Nusät is a pumpkin pulp-based cake that belongs to the gastronomic tradition of Oltrepò Pavese.
The recipe we propose here courtesy of the Associazione Zucca Berrettina di Lungavilla has been handed down orally for generations. Over time, thanks also to the greater economic possibilities, everyone has adapted it to their own tastes and enriched it with new ingredients, from mostarda to candied fruit, raisins, almonds, mascarpone, cocoa powder.
However, the modern variants have distorted the classic "nusät", transforming the modest savory pie into a confectionery product which was made with the few ingredients available in winter in the pantries of country houses: pumpkin pulp, a pinch of salt, breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese tied with an egg and sautéed in oil, butter and onion.
Since the name evokes walnuts, those who could afford it used to garnish the cake with kernels, however introducing an "ingredient" not included in the original recipe.
It is not known exactly what period the first "nusät" dates back to, but it is certain that it was part of the seven courses that made up the Christmas Eve dinner. Since the Middle Ages, on the evening of 23 December it was customary to have a lean but very abundant dinner, with no less than seven dishes, since, from midnight, in observance of the Eucharistic fast, it would no longer be possible to eat anything until midnight on 24 December. December, the moment in which, with the celebration of the Holy Mass of Christmas, the penitential season of Advent would have ended.
The obligation to fast from midnight in order to receive Communion was reduced to three hours by Pope Pius XII in the XNUMXs and subsequently to one hour by Pope Paul VI in the XNUMXs. The tradition of the "Evening of the Seven Dinners", however, was not completely abandoned, and if today it is above all the restaurateurs who are most attentive to safeguarding the local gastronomic heritage who are proposing it entirely in a secular key, even in the families of Lungavilla some of those ancient recipes, often revised and corrected, continue to have good luck.
First of all the "nusät", which has been one of the best ways to consume that extraordinary reserve of nutrients that is the pumpkin since time immemorial.
Ingredients:
– 800g. of cleaned pumpkin
– 60g. of grana padano cheese
– 60g. of breadcrumbs
– One whole egg
- An onion
Preparation:
Cook the pumpkin in one of the following ways to taste: either steamed for about 20 minutes or cooked in water for about 15 minutes or baked at 180° for about 40 minutes.
Cut an onion and toast it in oil and butter, remove the onion and leave the oil and butter aside. Once the pumpkin is cooked, pass it through the potato masher and mix it with the breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg, nutmeg and salt.
Combine the mixture with the oil and butter previously prepared. Spread the mixture into a baking dish or baking dish (2 – 3 cm high) greased and sprinkled with breadcrumbs.
Pass a fork over the surface to create a decoration and add a few flakes of butter.
Bake in the oven for 35 minutes at 150°
Optional: after removing the nusät from the oven, place a few walnut kernels on the surface.
