Squid Ink Tagliatelle with Mussels and Pumpkin // Tagliatelle al nero di seppia con cozze e zucca

Can you believe October has already come to an end? I can't. I'm kinda happy though because that means Halloween is here too. I've always loved this day. The dressing up, the trick or treat, the eating tons of candies. I'm a grown up now and I don't do that anymore, so I thought to make this day special with food, and this spooky pasta is just perfect.

Pickled Avocado // Avocado sotto aceto

I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who has sliced into an avocado before it was ripe enough to eat and had absolutely no idea what to do with it. Because let's be honest, unripe avocado is disgusting. I could be okay with it being a little too hard, but definitely not okay with its bitter and pretty awful taste.

How to Make Applesauce // Come fare l'applesauce

I don't know why since I'm not a baking person, but I've been feeling the need to bake lately which ended up in me looking for delicious and healthy recipes on Pinterest. And I've found a lot. The problem is that most of them called for an ingredient I didn't have in my pantry, applesauce. As you maybe know, I live in Italy and applesauce isn't something we use and I doubt you can even found it in stores.

Buckwheat and Squash Gnocchi with Kale // Gnocchi di grano saraceno e zucca con cavolo nero

I don't think anyone even noticed, but I didn't post anything last Friday. Don't worry, nothing bad happened, I was just too lazy and tired to write a post so I took a day off. But now I'm back and I have a pretty delicious recipe for you, these vegan and gluten-free buckwheat and squash gnocchi with kale.

Avocado Mayo // Maionese di avocado

It's truly amazing how one person's tastes can change. I used to love mayonnaise. I would always pick it over ketchup for my fries, drown my boiled eggs in it because I just couldn't stomach the dry yolk, and I even remember spreading it on bread. I've never been on my brother's level though, he once mixed it with Nutella. And he threw up, of course.

Pumpkin Linguine with Chanterelle Mushrooms // Linguine alla zucca con finferli

Every single year, I complain about not being able to find decent fresh mushrooms in supermarkets. Button and oyster are always there, but the most interesting ones, like porcini, shiitake and chanterelle, are never in the markets. This year is different though, and I was able to get my hands on some delicious chanterelle mushrooms. Some of which ended up in this very healthy and easy pasta dish that tastes like autumn.

Autumn Beef Bowl // Bowl autunnale di manzo

My mother bought a lot of ground beef last week. A part of it was meant to become delicious moussaka, the rest Bolognese sauce for my picky eater brother. I took some of the rest to make Korean beef but then I remembered I can't eat soy right now and that resulted in me spending half a day thinking about something I could make with it.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries // Patatine di patata dolce al forno

I challenge you to find someone who doesn't like fries, especially the crunchy ones. They are like heaven on earth. Regular fries, however, other than not being very healthy, are quite bland because let's be honest, white potatoes don't have a lot of flavour.

Buckwheat with Kabocha Squash Cream and Porcini Mushrooms // Grano saraceno con crema di zucca Kabocha e funghi porcini

I just love pumpkin or squash and mushrooms together, especially around this time of the year because I can enjoy them fresh instead of frozen. Also, they recall the colours of autumn which make me love this pairing even more (so expect to see a lot of recipes with them in the next weeks).

Asian Baked Sea Bass // Branzino asiatico al cartoccio

The first time I ate sea bass was at a restaurant in San Marino -- it was the only thing on my dish that was properly cooked -- and I realised it is probably the worst fish to order at a restaurant because it's got a lot of thorns and cleaning it in a plate full of food isn't easy. At all.

Sweet Potato Toasts with Gorgonzola, Arugula and Walnuts // Toast di patata dolce con gorgonzola, rucola e noci

There's plenty of things you can make with a sweet potato. Salads, pies, smoothies, fries, gnocchi and more. And toasts. Yep, that's the trend at the moment. Or maybe it was months ago. Or around this time last year. I really don't know. I remember seeing these lots of time ago and I've given them a try just now, and they blew my mind.

Lentil and Okra Curry // Curry di lenticchie e okra

Okra season has come to an end - at least for me since my plants are pretty much dead - and I've realised I haven't made as many recipes as I wanted to make with this wonderful vegetable. The reason? I simply eat most of them raw, as soon as I picked them.