Yellow Neapolitan Pumpkin in Olive Oil

Yellow Neapolitan is a pumpkin variety, not an address. This one is grown on the farm's own land on the Tuscan coast of the Maremma, where reclaimed ground and sea air suit it rather better than you might expect of a southern squash.

It is a dense, dry-fleshed pumpkin with deep amber colour and a sweetness that survives cooking instead of collapsing into mush. Sliced and preserved in olive oil, it keeps its bite: sweet, faintly nutty, with enough savoury edge to stop the richness running away with itself.

Put it on an antipasto board with cured meats and a sharp cheese, or fold it through warm pasta with a little of its own oil. On bruschetta with ricotta it is frankly showing off, but nobody has ever complained.