Warmth, Comfort, Pasta

 

This pasta is the equivalent of your softest scarf: comforting, warm, and always welcome.

The moment we flick our clocks back, I immediately begin to crave pasta—and only pasta—for every meal. There's something about the holy union of carbohydrates, creamy sauces, and earthy autumnal vegetables (hello pumpkin, hello mushrooms, good to see you cauliflower) interspersed with zingy cheese and subtle threads of spices that make autumn the ideal season for pasta consumption.

This pasta dish is just cozy, which I know is a much-overused term, but if the word cozy were ever to be manifested as a pasta, it would for sure be this one, full of cheese and vegetables and a few woody herbs.

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta

Serves 4

Prep Time: 15 mins

Cooking Time: 35 mins

 
 

INGREDIENTS

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

500g pumpkin or squash, peeled and cut into roughly 3cm cubes

50-100ml whole milk

2 tbsp tomato purée

2 tbsp mascarpone

350g short pasta (rigatoni or penne work well)

40g grated parmesan or vegetarian alternative, plus extra to serve

METHOD

  1. Heat the oil in a large, shallow frying pan over a low-medium heat and fry the onion with a pinch of salt for 10-15 mins until softened and translucent. Add the garlic and fry for 1 min more. Remove from the heat and leave to cool slightly.

  2. Meanwhile, cook the pumpkin in a pan of boiling salted water for 10-15 mins until tender when pierced with a cutlery knife. Drain and tip into a blender (or use a hand blender). Blitz with 50ml milk and the onions until completely smooth, gradually adding more milk until the mixture is thick enough to just coat the back of a spoon (you may not need all the milk). Tip into a large frying pan with the tomato purée and mascarpone, and bring to a simmer over a low heat.

  3. Cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling, salted water following pack instructions. Drain, reserving a cupful of the cooking water. Toss the pasta with the pumpkin sauce, parmesan and 50-100ml of the reserved water to loosen. Season and scatter with extra parmesan

 
THOMAS NEWFIELD