An Italian Meal For The Week

A friend who has a huge vegetable patch has given us a Zucca.

Now, the word zucca means squash, but gives no indication of the vegetable's size, and in this case it's fairly large -- more than two feet long and about eight inches in diameter, weighing quite a few pounds (it's too big for our kitchen scale). So we've been eating squash -- curried squash the other night, over rice and lentils (the kids had pasta), and yesterday we did something Italian:

Minestra di Zucca, Creamed squash soup. It's fairly sweet, thick, and delightfully warming. Followed by:
Rotolo di Tacchino, or a stuffed turkey breast roll. The beauty of this recipe is that one can tailor the filling to one's diners, and knowing my kids I filled it with a simple 2-egg frittata and thinly sliced ham. Served with Ketchup (for Daughter C) and Mayonnaise (for Son R). They gobbled it down.
A side? A tossed green salad seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, and salt.
Dessert? Budino Di Riso, rice pudding, made because a quart of milk had reached its expiration date.

At this point we've used about half the squash. Some of the rest will become a winter jam that also includes apples and pears; I'll post the recipe I found after I've tried it.

And while we're on the subject of hearty soups, here's a selection of Minestrone Variations.
And More On Squash