Passion For Pasta: It's that time of year to make the most of pumpkin

Halloween will most certainly be a different experience for us all this year due to Covid, but one thing that will remain the same is the vast collection of pumpkins that can be found aplenty in local pick your own farms and also the supermarkets.

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 or pies, most definitely has to be my ultimate teatime goal.

As with many foods, I have become a little obsessed with pumpkins. I have bought one to carve for each of my children and then a variety of different-sized culinary pumpkins for myself to cook and use for recipe development for my new book, ‘Pasta Fresca’.

This pumpkin recipe is for 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.

Pumpkin tortellini with crushed amaretti biscotti

Preparation time: 1 hour 30 mins; Cooking time: 40 mins. 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 Padano, 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. Roasting the prepared pumpkin in a pre-heated oven (190C/Gas 5) for 30 minutes until tender.

2. Push the cooked pumpkin through a sieve and allow the pulp to cool for an hour.

3. Mix the pulp with the crushed amaretti biscuits, Grana, mostarda di frutta, nutmeg and lemon. Taste and season.

4. Cover the mixture and set aside.

5. Roll the dough out with either a rolling pin or using a pasta machine.

6. I normally roll the dough out into manageable portions using my pasta machine and form the dough into lasagne sheets.

7. Place the sheets on to a lightly-floured surface and cut them into approximately 4cm x 4cm squares.

8. Place a tsp of the mixture on to each square. Using a little water dampen the corners of dough and fold each square into a triangle, gently squeezing out any air.

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 the boil, then salt well. Cook the pasta for four minutes until al dente.

11. Pour the oil into a frying pan and add the butter along with the sage leaves. Brown for three 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.