Goose egg pasta with roasted pumpkin, garlic and butter sauce

SERVES 4

150 g (5½ oz) butternut pumpkin (squash), cut into 2 cm (¾ inch) cubes

10 garlic cloves, unpeeled

125 g (4½ oz) butter

½ fresh nutmeg

80 g (2¾ oz/½ cup) pine nuts, toasted in a dry frying pan

1 handful basil

grated parmesan, to serve

PASTA

125 g (4½ oz/1 cup) ‘00’ flour (see note)

125 g (4½ oz/1 cup) semolina

3 goose eggs

Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F/Gas 6). Roast the pumpkin and garlic in the oven for 15–20 minutes, or until tender — don’t overcook the pumpkin as you don’t want it to fall apart in the sauce. Set aside and leave the garlic in the skin.

For the pasta dough: Combine the two flours together and season with salt. Pile the flour on a bench and then make a well in the centre. Crack 1 goose egg into the well and mix. Once it’s combined do the same with the next egg and then again with the last egg. If the mixture is wet, sprinkle with a little more flour. Knead well for 10 minutes and then cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10–15 minutes.

Cut the pasta dough into three pieces, then flatten out each piece. Using one piece at a time, put it through your pasta-making machine, following the manufacturer’s instructions. Run it through the widest setting, then fold the dough in half lengthways; repeat four times. Reduce the settings on the pasta machine, feeding and rolling the pasta through each setting four times until the dough is translucent and very thin. Cut the long flat pasta in half lengthways and then feed it through your chosen cutter setting. Sprinkle flour over the pasta and give it a toss through to prevent the pasta from sticking together. Repeat with the remaining dough.

For the sauce: In a frying pan over medium heat, melt the butter, then grate in the nutmeg, when the butter begins to foam, add the roasted pumpkin. Squeeze the garlic out of the skins, breaking it up between your fingers, and sprinkle it around the pan, then throw in the pine nuts, tear some basil leaves roughly and toss everything together.

Put your pasta in a large saucepan of well-salted boiling water and give it a gentle mix so that it is not sticking together. Cook for 2–3 minutes.

When the pasta is cooked, use tongs to lift it out of the water and put it into the pan with the pumpkin sauce. Give it all a really good mix, and serve with the remaining basil and parmesan.

‘00’ flour is a highly refined wheat flour with a low protein content, ideal for smooth pasta dough. It is available from delicatessens.