Recipe by Vicki Ravlich-Horan, Images by Brydie Thompson
Beautiful pumpkins are in season and at their best in autumn. My pick is a butternut, for the flavour and ease of peeling and chopping. But any pumpkin will work.
extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 sprig of rosemary, stalk removed and chopped
2–3 garlic cloves, crushed, from Pirongia Mountain Vegetables
750g–1kg pumpkin from Pirongia Mountain Vegetables
1 cup Dreamview cream from Bare
salt & pepper to taste
400g pasta from Pasta Paradiso (I used their macheroni)
parmesan cheese or fetta style cheese
walnuts from Bare, toasted
Peel and chop the pumpkin into 1cm pieces. Drizzle with oil and season before baking at 180°C for 30–45 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft.
Place a large pot of water on to boil.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a pan, add the onion, garlic and rosemary and cook on low until the onion goes translucent. Add the roast pumpkin. With a wooden spoon roughly squash a third of the pumpkin.
Salt the now boiling water and place the pasta in and cook (this should take just a couple of minutes).
When the pasta is nearly cooked, add the cream to the sauce and stir well.
Drain the pasta and add to the sauce, along with 2–3 tablespoons of the cooking water.
Stir to coat all the pasta with the sauce before serving with a generous sprinkle of parmesan or fetta cheese and some of the toasted walnuts.
Serve with some steamed greens (picked up from Pirongia Mountain Vegetables) and some garlic bread.
Wine match from Neat – Deep Down Chard ’23 $43
Marlborough. Whole bunch pressed into 15% new oak. Natural ferment. Pale gold in colour, stone fruit, citrus and nuts on the nose. Textural, nectarine, apricot, fuzzy peach. Crisp. Made by our mates Clive and Pete.
