smooth as Thai silk soup
Pumpkin and coconut have an incredible affinity and the result is not only an extraordinary taste but a silky smooth texture too.
The method is simplicity itself. The roasting makes life easy (no peeling and chopping a hard uncooked pumpkin) and deepens the flavor at the same time so really there is very little to do except blitz and season. Once the pumpkin is roasted the soup takes just minutes.
The beta carotene king in classic mode
This is an Italian classic except here I made a sauce using cream instead of just butter. Frying the sage leaves in butter is of course incredibly delicious but I quite like this version. The flavours of sage and pumpkin suit each other well…there really isn’t much more to say except make sure you try this dish once.
Ingredients – for 4 servings
One quantity of fresh egg pasta
and some semolina for dusting and general non stickiness
For the sauce:
For the pumpkin filling:
How To
First make the pumpkin filling.Gently fry the onion until translucent and add the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Now add the scooped out parts of the roast pumpkin flesh and mash with a fork. You can blend with a hand blender but the flesh should be soft enough to do this with a fork. Set aside.
Now on to the ravioli…really not as hard as they sound. You can make these ahead and refrigerate up to 3 days or even better freeze on trays before bagging them. You dont need fancy equipment or a machine although I do love my little serrated wheel that I bought in Italy that cuts them.
I use my pasta making machine to make nice sheets. I put the pasta through 4 times ie not the absolute thinnest setting – I find this makes for tearless ravioli in all senses. You can go old school and set to with the rolling pin – keep rolling using lots of semolina to keep things from sticking, although if the dough is nice and elastic it shouldn’t be sticking but be “just right”. Once you have wide sheets strips you are ready to make small blobs of the pumpkin filling.
If you want to be regimented you can cut your strips into neat rectangles. I tend to leave mine as they exit the pasta machine – curvy and irregular – a bit like you and me.
Now just brush around with a tiny bit of water and fold over the sheet envelope style. Press between each “blob” with your fingers first to seal the pasta. This makes the little pillows. Now use a serrated cutter to make them look pretty and to cut them. A regular knife of course will do.
Lift them off with a spatula and put them on a tray already dusted with semolina
If you are going to refrigerate them, i find its best to put a tea towel over them.
The Sauce
Gently fry the onion and garlic until translucent and add the salt and pepper and the sage leaves. Pour in the wine and cook until all is almost evaporated. You want an “essence of wine” kind of taste and if you do not reduce the wine, the sauce may curdle. make sure the sage is cooked because raw sage unlike other herbs is really a bit too much.
Now add the cream until it bubbles. Turn down to a very low heat or switch it off and re-heat if you are going to use it later.
Bring the dish together:
Place a large pan of salted water on the boil. Place a batch of ravioli in the water (its better to do in batches because as they only take three minutes to cook its better than having a great clump of ravioli all stuck together in your pan). As soon as they float to the surface they are done! You can place them on a tea towel on a hot dish to keep warm before you serve either in one big bowl or plated.
Finally warm your sauce up, pour over, and for extra pumpkin ness serve with chunks of roasted pumpkin too. It can do no harm.
When pumpkins proliferate…scoop this velvety dip up …
’tis the season to be profligate with your pumpkin and I for one have no problem finding uses for this most silky and seductive of vegetables. This delicious gloopy number is inspired by Mr Ottolenghi and a request for a Lebanese American Thanskgiving menu… I’ve dipped grissini in it, carrot batons and (guilty pleasure) mini crostini. I’ve slathered it on toast and pita bread and dribbled pomegranate molasses all over it. I’ve thought about serving a little bitter leaves side salad with it to address its inherent sweetness but so far that remains a mere healthy thought.
The actual “method” is nothing more than blitzing but like many dishes the end result is more than the sum of the parts if you have good ingredients and treat them kindly.
which is something most people tend to have in the cupboard rather than a bowl of dried ones soaked overnight with a pinch of bicarbonate. Yes they do taste better but so does stuffed peacock.
1 tin of chick peas drained (I am not squeamish but sometimes that gloopy liquid in cans of beans freaks me out a bit…I like to drain them quite well under running water)
The juice of a lemon and quite a lot of zest. I find it highlights all the other flavours
You dont need tahini paste here as you have the pumpkin but as I like it so much I add 1 tablespoon and besides, its so full of Vitamin E.
2 fat cloves of garlic. I think you do need generous garlic.
salt, pepper, half a teaspoon of cumin, a little chilli and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Its the cinnamon that needs to prevail.
1 tablespoon of good olive oil – optional. The pumpkin really does add silkiness which is what makes it such a magical ingredient so you do not need loads of oil to make your hummus feel smooth.
Chunks of Roasted pumpkin – total volume equal to the sum of all the other ingredients.
Pomegranate Molasses – to serve. Do not add to the mix or you will not have the nice contrast.
Blitz together until you have a smooth puree. Really there is no more method than that. OK to make this a more substantive recipe a few words on roasting pumpkin:
Cut the butternut squash in half or larger pumpkins in four. Roast at 160C until the flesh is soft. I cut off any black or caramelised parts not because I dont like the flavour but because they will impart a muddy brown colour to your dips/ soups. Scoop out the pips and use the flesh which will give your soups and dips a rich concentrated lovely flavour.
