Guys Love Cooking weekend recipe: Potato & Pumpkin Cappuccino

Our weekly collaboration with Guys Love Cooking features an interesting take on the "cappuccino," after the guys pick their mom's brain. This 30-minute dish serves four.

Last weekend we had some guests over for dinner and we wanted to create something a bit different, something to impress. My mum is a great cook, she is a true Italian woman, one of those that enjoys her time in the kitchen. She is very creative and often comes up with various inventions. Lately she is going through a bit of a vegetarian/vegan phase. Now she's experimenting with ingredients she greatly enjoys: vegetables.

Italian food is renowned for its heavy use of meats. However, there are a great variety of vegetarian dishes. Especially Southern Italian food has a huge choice of those types of meals. One of the friends that was over for dinner is a vegetarian, and we asked my mother for some advice. She suggested a few dishes to put together, so we warn you that even though we are presenting this recipe, it is not actually our own! Regardless, it was delicious, and our friend thoroughly enjoyed it.

The presentation of the dish is key to make it stand out, however like most of our recipes it is extremely easy, takes almost no time, and the result is staggering. Be aware that it has pumpkin and potatoes, both pretty filling ingredients. So make sure the portions are not too big, or you won’t want to go back to the kitchen for a second round.

Recipe

• Prep Time: 15 minutes
• Cook Time: 15 minutes
• Total Time: 30 minutes
• Serving Size: 4

Ingredients

• Potato: 400g
• Pumpkin: 800g
• Leeks: 1
• Vegetable broth: 500mL
• Rosemary: 2 small branches
• Extra virgin olive oil: 4 tbsp
• Salt: a pinch
• Pepper: a dash
• Cream cheese: 150g
• Whipped cream: 100g
• Honey: 4 tsp
• Walnuts: 2

Method

Peel the pumpkin and the potatoes and cut them into cubes. Peel the leek and cut it very finely. In a saucepan, heat 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, and soften the leek. Then add the pieces of pumpkin and potato. Add finely chopped rosemary, and the vegetable stock. When the potatoes and pumpkin are cooked, let it cool and whip until it forms a smooth creamy substance. Season with salt and pepper if necessary. In a bowl add the cream cheese and the whipped cream and mix together. Add salt and pepper. Pour the pumpkin and potatoes cream in regular or cappuccino cups. Add a spatula of cream. Top with honey, walnut and a little rosemary.