Non-Italian Sunday Lunch in Umbria

Gazpacho, eggplants, lentils, turkey & peach cake

There comes a point every summer when even I get tired of eating some version of tomatoes and mozzarella. Or pasta. Or anything else that is typically Italian and that I’ve been cooking and eating for the last 2 months. During the rest of the year I travel a lot for our tours, so I’m not so easily bored. I get a week eating tortellini and tortelli in Parma, then another week eating focaccia and fresh seafood in Puglia. And then there is all that Sicilian food. And when I’m back in Rome I get the chance to change things up with Sushi, Indian food or my favorite dumpling place.

But here in Umbria (where I am for most of July and August) there comes that point where I just want something different. (And that different definitely does not include the new sushi counter at our local supermarket which I find kind of scary.)

Which is why I found myself so indecisive when it came to cooking this past Sunday. I had invited some friends for lunch and I just could not get excited about what I felt I should be making: Prosciutto e Melone or a Caprese salad to start. Some sort of pasta with tomatoes or eggplants or both. I mean: been there, done that, right?

So I went in a completely different direction pulling out my trusted and much stained copy of Jerusalem. A kind of middle eastern feast sounded just about right. But in Umbria. So of coure there were plenty of tomatoes. But no pasta in sight. The perfect Sunday Lunch and more to the point: just what I was craving.