Donal's comforting vegetarian pumpkin pasta
As the cold, dark evenings draw in, nothing hits the food spot quite like a big bowl of comforting pasta.
And with Halloween just around the corner, Donal is making the most out of this season's star veg - the pumpkin! He’s live from his home in Dublin with his easy to make roast pumpkin, brown butter tortellini with sage and hazelnuts - the perfect veggie dish for a cozy night in.
Pumpkin, sage and brown butter pasta
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and sliced
3-4 thyme sprigs
2 sage sprigs
100g butter
75g hazelnuts, roughly chopped
500g spinach and ricotta tortellini
Sea salt & black pepper
100g Cashel blue, to serve
Best quality extra virgin olive oil, to serve
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Gas Mark 4 .
2. Place the pumpkin on a large baking sheet with the thyme sprigs and olive oil. Season generously with sea salt and ground black pepper. Place in the oven to roast for 40 minutes or until tender and caramelised on the edges. Once cooked, keep warm.
3. Towards the end of the cooking time for the pumpkins, bring a large pot of water to the boil and generously season with salt. Once boiling, add the tortellini and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve a cup of the starchy cooking water for use in the sauce.
4. While the pasta cooks, place a large heavy based frying pan over a low to medium heat and add the butter. Add the hazelnuts, tossing to evenly toast in the warm butter. Cook for 4-5 minutes until the hazelnuts have toasted. Stir through the sage and allow to t0ast in the golden butter mix.
5. Toss the roasted pumpkin in with the tortellini.
6. Serve the pasta hot to warmed plates, crumble over some blue cheese along with a generous drizzle of the best quality extra virgin olive oil you have to hand and add a last seasoning of sea salt and black pepper.