I found this recipe from Nigella's Kitchen cookbook (which I am loving) and thought it sounded rather good. I really like recipes with pumpkin, pine nuts and cheese in it. Although I do feel like I need to have meat at dinner time, so I just got some nice sausages from the butcher and cooked these with it.
The pasta is quite hearty and so you don't need too much of it. The pasta was really good I just wish the pumpkin was sweeter. I hate it when you get a pumpkin that tastes a bit bland and not sweet like they should be.
Apparently Nigella usually serves this pasta just between herself and her husband, which I don't know how they would be able to eat that amount. I did find the blue cheese a bit strong in this dish, and I am a blue cheese lover, so maybe next time I make this I might use fetta instead.
Pappardelle with butternut and blue cheese - from Nigella's Kitchen
Serves 6
800g cubed butternut pumpkin
1 medium - large onion
2 tbs Olive Oil
3/4 tsp smoked paprika
1 tbs butter
3 tbs marsala (I used sherry as I have never been able to find marsala in any bottle shop, anyone know where I can get some??)
125ml water
salt, to taste
100g pine nuts
500g pappardelle
6 fresh sage leaves
125g soft blue cheese
1. Peel and finely chop onion and fry in olive oil, in a pot that will later be able to accommodate the pasta. When the onion starts getting golden add in the smoked paprika.
2. Tumble in the cubes of pumpkin and add the butter turning everything together. Then add the marsala and water and let it come to a boil and then put the lid on and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender
3. Meanwhile put the pasta onto boil in salted water. Toast the pine nuts in a separate pan until golden.
4. Lift the lid off the pan with the pumpkin and check that it's tender and season to taste, noting that the cheese will be added later, and then take off the heat.
5. Drain the pasta (reserving a mug full of cooking water), Chop the sage leaves and sprinkle most of it over the pumpkin mixture, reserving some for later.
6. Tip the drained pasta into the pumpkin and mix around. If the pasta is too dry, add some of the reserved water.
7. Drop in the crumbled cheese and half the pine nuts and toss around as if making a salad, then sprinkle with the remainder of the pine nuts and reserved sage.
