TORTELLONI WITH PUMPKIN & BUTTER SAGE SAUCE

To make the tortelloni filling I used a delica pumpkin, which has rich orange flesh, sweet and nutty. You can use any pumpkin as long as it’s not a jack-o’-lantern, as they’re not really a variety that’s grown for the best flavour.

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/350°F.

Pour a ladleful of warm water into a roasting tray and place the quartered pumpkin into it. Scatter over the sage leaves, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt flakes. Cover the tray with aluminium foil, place in the oven and roast for 40–50 minutes until the pumpkin is nice and soft. Remove from the oven and leave to one side.

When the pumpkin is cool enough to handle, spoon the pumpkin flesh into a bowl, discarding the skins and the sage leaves. Mash the pumpkin until it’s smooth (if you have a potato ricer then it’s good to use that). Next stir in the mascarpone, ground almonds and Parmesan, ensuring everything’s mixed well together, and season to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer the bowl to the fridge for half an hour, which helps to firm the filling.

Roll the pasta dough using a quarter of the quantity at a time, stopping at setting 6 or 7 on your pasta machine, depending on how thick you’d like the pasta to be.

Cut out evenly sized squares around 7.5cm/3”. Now you’re ready to fill and shape the tortelloni. Dust the finished shapes with semolina or rice flour and place on a slightly-dusted tray.

Bring a large pan of water to the boil before seasoning it well with table salt, then drop the pasta into the water and boil for 2 minutes.

At the same time make the butter sauce. Place the butter with half a ladle of boiling water into a wide saucepan and swish it round to emulsify the butter. Add a twist or two of black pepper and 5 or 6 sage leaves. When the tortelloni are cooked, transfer them to the sauce and swirl everything together to coat the pasta well. You may want to add a little of the pasta cooking water to loosen the sauce. Season to taste with sea salt and more pepper if needed and serve into warm bowls with extra Parmesan for anyone who would like it.

Vegan option:

• Substitute the egg dough fo vegan semolina dough
• Replace the Parmesan in the filling with a mixture of pangrattato and nutritional yeast
• Swap the mascarpone with a vegan cream cheese
• For the butter sauce, use olive oil mixed with some of the pasta cooking water