Roast pumpkin blitzed into a silky sauce, tossed through pasta and finished with sage leaves fried until they shatter. It’s a winter dish that comes together while the pumpkin roasts, and it uses the best of what’s on the stalls right now. Grab your pumpkin, sage and parmesan from Queen Victoria Market, delivered to your door or via Click & Collect!
Serves 4.
Ingredients
- 900g butternut pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into 3cm cubes
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 400g dried pasta (rigatoni, penne or fettuccine)
- 50g butter
- 20 sage leaves
- 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- ½ cup (125ml) dry white wine
- ¾ cup (180ml) pouring cream
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- ¾ cup (75g) parmesan, finely grated, plus extra to serve
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
Method
- Preheat the oven to 200°C. Toss the pumpkin cubes with the olive oil, salt and pepper and spread across a lined tray in a single layer, so the pieces roast rather than steam.
- Roast for 20-25 minutes, until the edges are golden and a fork slides straight through. That colour is where the sweetness comes from, so don’t pull them early.
- Blend the roasted pumpkin with the cream until completely smooth. Set aside.
- Cook the pasta in well-salted boiling water until just short of al dente — it finishes in the sauce. Scoop out 2 cups of the pasta water before draining.
- Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the sage leaves and fry for about 30 seconds on each side, until they stop sizzling and turn crisp. Lift out onto paper towel and keep for serving.
- Add the garlic to the same pan and cook for 1 minute, until fragrant but not browned — burnt garlic will turn the whole sauce bitter.
- Pour in the white wine and simmer for 2 minutes, scraping the base of the pan to lift anything stuck on. Let it reduce by half so the sauce doesn’t taste sharp.
- Turn the heat to low and stir in the pumpkin purée, tomato paste, parmesan and nutmeg. Keep the heat gentle here, high heat will split the cream.
- Loosen the sauce with the reserved pasta water, a splash at a time, until it coats a spoon and slides off easily. The starch in the water is what makes it cling to the pasta.
- Add the drained pasta and toss over low heat for a minute so every piece is coated. Taste and season.
- Serve straight away, topped with the crispy sage and extra parmesan.
Adapted from Knife and Soul
