Like all the recipes in this book of stories, the pumpkin velouté prepared by my mother with the pumpkins grown in our grandparents’ garden is part of my childhood memories. Light but nourishing, with the simple scent of autumn evenings.

This is a versatile recipe that can be used as both a side dish and a main course.

You should know that, unlike Dad’s cooking, where every dish was filled to its maximum capacity, my mother’s cooking wasn’t meant to be overly filling, and she preferred more modest dishes. Looking back, now that I’ve grown up and my perception of food has drastically changed, I think my mother was “ahead of her time”, a precursor of trends. Although omnivorous, her dishes were very similar to those of vegetarian cuisine, today’s slow food, and all these trends that aim for a more conscious way of eating and have been established in our society since the second decade of the 2000s.

Her watchwords were “simplicity, lightness, and nourishment” and I must admit that her dishes, even if they were a bit less flavorful than Dad’s or grandma’s, satisfied you without overdoing it and never left you with that feeling of sleepiness and heaviness typical of overly elaborate dishes.