Pumpkin Fettuccine with Brown Butter, Sage and Goat’s Cheese

Jump to the recipe

The making of this dish was inspired by a creamy pumpkin risotto, drizzled with brown butter sage and chevre that I enjoyed at a restaurant recently. This is my tribute to that dish, in fresh pasta form.

Hand cut fettuccine is paired with the silkiest of pumpkin sauces that starts as a purée and binds into a glossy sauce thanks to the magic of pasta water. Sage, pine nuts and butter are browned then drizzled all over to serve. And let’s not forget a little grated goat’s cheese to complete the dish. It tastes like pumpkin tortelli, but without the effort of making stuffed pasta. Winner winner.

---

Pumpkin Fettuccine with Brown Butter, Sage and Goat's Cheese

Serves 4

Ingredients 

Pasta

• 1x batch of my Master Pasta Dough

Pumpkin sauce

• 750g Kent pumpkin (yields roughly 400g flesh once roasted)

• 3 tbsp EVOO

• 50ml chicken stock (or water can be used instead)

• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar

• Juice of half a lemon

• 40g grana padano or Parmigiano Reggiano

Brown butter sauce

• 100g butter, unsalted

• 20 sage leaves

• 2 tbsp pine nuts

• Hard goat’s cheese (like this one), to serve

Method 

Pasta dough

1. Make the pasta dough according to instructions here.

Shaping the fettuccine

1. Divide the dough into four pieces. Work with one at a time (keep the rest covered so as not to dry out) - flatten the piece with your hand or a rolling pin before passing it through the thickest setting on your pasta machine. Fold the edges in to create a neat rectangle that fits the width of your pasta machine, and run it through the thickest setting again and repeat until your dough is uniform in shape and fits the width of the machine.

2. Continue passing your dough through the machine, working through each thickness setting until you get to setting 6 on a Marcato atlas (typically fourth to last setting on most machines).

3. Perform a double lamination if you want an extra smooth and silky dough.

4. Take your rolled sheet and fold it in half, cutting at this seam to create two sheets roughly 25-30cm in length.

5. Dust each side of the sheets generously with flour and roll one end until it meets the other.

6. Use a large knife to cut ribbons at 0.5cm intervals.

7. Set aside in a nest on a lined baking tray until you’re ready to use.

8. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.

Pumpkin sauce

1. Preheat oven to 180c (160c fan/350f)

2. Cut the pumpkin into large pieces, drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.

3. Roast the pumpkin for 45-50 minutes or until tender.

4. Allow the pumpkin to cool enough to handle before scraping the flesh from the skin and adding directly to a blender (I like to use a Nutribullet to ensure a really silky and smooth sauce) along with all of the other ingredients and a good pinch of salt.

5. Blitz until very smooth, adding a drizzle more stock/water if necessary to help bind into a smooth purée.

6. Set aside until ready to use.

Finishing touches

1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and salt generously.

2. Add the pumpkin purée to a sauté pan and keep warm.

3. Cook the pasta until al dente - just a couple of minutes or a little longer if you’ve allowed your fettuccine to dry significantly.

4. While the pasta is cooking, in another pan heat butter over a medium flame. Once it starts to bubble throw in the sage leaves and pine nuts, and continue cooking, whirling the pan occasionally as it begins to brown and everything becomes fragrant.

5. Make sure you keep whirling the pan and as soon as its suitably brown, remove from the heat so as not to take it too far. 

6. When al dente, toss the pasta into the pumpkin sauce with a generous amount of pasta water to loosen and thin it out.

7. Divide between bowls and serve drizzled with the brown butter sauce, and a grating of goat’s cheese.