I love cooking with pumpkin and squash at this time of year. The gourds are fresh, seasonal, plentiful and affordable. If you’ve grown your own, then you’ll be enjoying a myriad of pumpkin dishes right about now. They work well in sweet baked goods such as muffins, cakes and cheesecakes as well as savoury soups, stews and curries. I also love using the flesh made into a purée, as a simple side dish, topped with cheese or herbs.
This pumpkin pasta is simple to make, with basic ingredients, but it tastes like so much more. My children love this dish, it’s pure comfort food for these chillier autumn evenings and like all of my favourite foods, it can be eaten from a bowl with minimal cutlery.
Garlic and herb sausages work well here too, instead of the Italian-style in the recipe, or use a fresh chorizo. You could also use ground turkey or pork. The pasta is equally delicious without the sausage. Whatever you use will affect the final flavour, so keep that in mind.
Sizzling the sage in the brown butter brings out its meaty herbaceousness and flavours the butter further. Drizzle the fried herbs and butter over the ricotta at the last minute for a rewarding textural experience. It’s incredible mixed with the pasta. Choose a pasta shape that the sauce will cling to. This is also delicious assembled as a lasagne with dollops of ricotta and Parmesan between the pasta sheets.
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I like to serve this topped with freshly ground black pepper and a soft blanket of finely grated nutty Parmesan to round off these amazing flavours, with sautéed kale or broccoli on the side.
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Recipe: Pumpkin pasta with sage and brown butter ricotta
Lilly’s Kitchen Tips:
1. Make your own pumpkin purée instead of buying tinned. Cook pumpkin in an air fryer or oven by halving, scooping out the seeds and placing wedges or halves cut side down. Cook for 30-40 minutes at 180 degrees until fork tender. Remove the skin and purée the pumpkin flesh until smooth.
2. Whole nutmeg is worth investing in as the ready-ground nutmeg is often old, with a dusty flavour. Get a little grater and a jar of whole nutmeg. It really enhances so many dishes, grate it over custard, hot chocolate, baked sweet potatoes with a little butter or use in savoury meat dishes, particularly pork with apple.
3. To chiffonade herbs such as sage, basil or mint, simply stack the leaves on top of one another. Roll up tightly like a little cigar then use a sharp knife to slice across the leaves to create fine ribbons of herb.
