Baked pumpkin, onions, beets with finferli mushrooms
This year summer never seems to end, and I really do look forward to autumn, my favorite season, when the temperature is perfect, not too hot nor too cold, and the colours of the sky become soft like pashmina. I have already entered in the autumn/winter mentality mode and I have been planning activities and things to do in this period since August! In fact, for my husband's birthday, I got him the Gallerie dell'Accademia annual pass, so that we can go to the Fine Art Academy together weekly and take our time, focus on an individual painter or work without the feeling of urgency.
The card also grants us access to temporary exhibitions, so today I am taking you with me to see 'Titian 1508. At the beginning of a luminous career', which opened on September 9 and is on until December 3, and combining the visit to a simple recipe: a side dish of pumpkin, finferli mushrooms, red beetroots and red onions, perfect to accompany a roast chicken or, for vegetarians, some spicy sautéed chickpeas or black beans.
The tones of these greens seem to go hand in hand with the warm hues of the paintings and bring, at least onto our plates, a real feel of autumn!
The exhibit focuses on the early years of this great painter, and puts his works side by side with the ones of Giorgione (second above) and other contemporaries of his, such as Albrecht Dürer, Sebastiano dal Piombo and Francesco Vecellio. It shows how quickly Titian assimilated cultural influences of his period, making them his own.
It gathers works from the Accademia with some from the Uffizi Galleries, some churches and other museums. The exhibit highlights interesting facts, like that the Angel with tambourine in the photo above was part of the altarpiece once in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi in Ferrara, the fragments of which are now located in different places, with the Madonna and Child enthroned at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow and the one with St Francis in the Muséè des Beaux Arts in Béziers. The work was probably painted by Nicolò Pisano and eventually heavily retouched by Titian, as a reflectography seems to suggest.
Vittorio and I enjoyed looking at the amazing engravings by Dürer and noted -this is just our personal opinion- that it was definitely not the art that Titian mastered best. His engravings were not as powerful as his drawings and paintings, always breathtaking.
I enjoyed seeing the two Tobias next to each other, the second coming from the church of Madonna dell'Orto. The first one is among my mother's favorites and it made me think of her and my brother. In both, but especially in the first one, there is a feeling of sweetness and human sentiment that touches me deeply, and those tones of red add a unique magic.
Of course, the curators also dedicated space to the years at the Fondaco dei Tedeschi, but I don't want to spoil everything! I just wanted to share some details and the vibe and hope to have made you curious!
Find the instructions of the recipe below and... take care. Talk soon.
Yours,
Nicoletta
RECIPE:
BAKED PUMPKIN, BEETS, RED ONIONS AND FINFERLI MUSHROOM SIDE DISH
Ingredients for 2:
1/3 Delica pumpkin
2 red beetroos
3 small red onions
300 gr Finferli mushrooms
2 crushed cloves of garlic
parsley to garnish
e.v.o.oil
Method:
1. Clean the skin of the pumpkin (I like to eat it!), slice into wedges and remove the seeds. Peel the beetroot and slice. Do the same with the onions. Put everything into a pan, add e.v.o.oil and bake in a previously heated oven at 180° for about 40/45 minutes. 2. Rinse the mushrooms well under water, heat a pan, add some e.v.o.oil, the crushed cloves of garlic and the mushrooms. Cook at medium heat for 8 minutes, adding a few drops of water when the pan seems to get dry. 3. Combine the mushrooms with the roasted veg, sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve hot.
