The time of year is upon us when we are littered with the beauty that is the humble pumpkin. This autumnal delight does raise a somewhat childlike smile to my face. Small, medium and monster in size, to carve of course but to eat in pasta, most definitely has to be my ultimate goal. I have as with many foods become a little obsessed with pumpkins as they are seasonal and only available for a short period of time.  I have bought one for each of my children (that’s 4) and then a variety of different sized pumpkins (another 3) for myself to cook with as well as some drop dead gorgeous squashes!! I’m conscious that by the time you read this , 31st of October will have flown away with Winnie the witch, but left over pumpkins, any squash or the popular butternut squash will work perfectly. Time to cook!

This pumpkin recipe is for all of my friends who believe me to have a brief or somewhat ongoing love affair with amaretti, whether it be in a biscuit or liquid form. This combination is beyond heavenly and is a favourite dish of my friend Julie who fell in love with this sweet and savoury pasta dish whilst we were on a trip a few years ago in Italy. I believe her words were ‘I never want this meal to end’. Like everything in life it must come to an end however here is a beautiful recipe to replicate at home.

Photo taken by Helen Bailey Photography . Photographer from my second book ‘A Passion for Pasta‘, where this recipe has been taken from.

Preparation time: 1 hour 30 mins

Cooking time: 40 minutes

Serves: 4

Pasta

400g ready-made egg pasta dough

Filling

1kg pumpkin, de-seeded, peeled and cut into wedges

90g hard amaretti, crushed

150g Grana Padoro, grated

100g mostarda di frutta, finely chopped in tiny pieces

Freshly grated nutmeg

1 small lemon, zest

Salt and pepper to season

Sauce

1 tbsp. olive oil

90g Butter, unsalted

70g Grana Padano, grated

30g hard amaretti, crushed (optional)

  1. Start by roasting the prepared pumpkin in a pre-heated oven (190C/Gas5) for 30 minutes until tender.
  2. Remove the pumpkin from the oven and push the pumpkin through a sieve and allow the smooth pulp to cool for an hour.
  3. Mix the pulp along with the crushed amaretti biscuits, Grana, mostarda di frutta, nutmeg, and lemon. Taste and season with salt and pepper.
  4. Cover the mixture and set aside.
  5. Roll the dough out with either a rolling pin or using your pasta machine which should be sitting proudly on your kitchen surface.
  6. I normally roll the dough out into manageable portions using my pasta machine and form the dough into lasagne sheets.
  7. Place the lasagne sheets onto a lightly floured surface. Cut the lasagne sheets into squares measuring approximately 4cmx4cm square.
  8. Place a tsp amount of the mixture onto each square. Using a little water dampen the corners of dough and fold each square into a triangle, gently squeezing out any air and forming a perfect triangle.
  9. Hold the triangle with the point facing upwards, now join each of the two lower corners together forming a perfect or for me slightly wobbly tortello. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.
  10. Bring a large pan of water to boil, once boiling salt well. Cook the pasta for 4 minutes until aldente.
  11. Pour the oil into a frying pan and add the butter along with the sage leaves. Brown for 3 minutes.
  12. Drain the pasta and spoon into warmed bowls. Add a delicate drizzle of the browned butter.
  13. Add a final sprinkle of Grana, however I love to also add an additional amaretti crumble to finish the dish.