Squash, Speck Ham & Provola Mezzelune with Sage Butter Sauce

Pasta ripiena (filled pasta) with squash is a speciality of the regions surrounding the river Po, including Emilia-Romagna and Lombardia. The exact origin of squash-filled pasta is hotly debated, as both Mantova and Ferrara have early records of this dish, and therefore both take credit. In any case, in homage to these gastronomic - and squash - centres of Northern Italy, this week we’ve filled our fresh mezzelune (a shape typical to Italy’s northern regions) with a sweet, orange-hued squash filling. We combine this beloved ingredient with provola and speck, two ingredients similarly associated with the culinary traditions of the north.

Provola originally hails from Campania in the Italian South, though this gooey cheese, not dissimilar in texture to mozzarella, is now predominantly crafted by artisan cheesemakers in the Po river valley regions. This cheese earns its name from the ancient tradition of ‘pruvatura’ or ‘pruvula’, where priests who had assembled at the convent of San Lorenzo in Capua were offered the cheese on a piece of bread, as to demonstrate its good qualities.

We also fill our special mezzelune with salty speck ham. Speck, known and formally recognised in Italy as Speck Alto Adige PGI, is a dry-cured and ever-so-slightly smoked ham, typical of South Tyrol, in the north. To finish, we dress our mezzelune in an earthy sage butter, as well as a final scattering of formaggio.

Note: Please consume or freeze our pasta and sauces within 2 days of delivery.