Autumn pasta with blue cheese and nuts
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I love the sticky sound this steamy pasta makes as you stir through pumpkin, walnuts and blue cheese until it forms a creamy sauce. It’s proper autumnal food. Seek out smaller, sweeter pumpkins with interesting textures and skin colours; they are far more flavourful than the regular large orange ones. I particularly love the pastel blue-green-skinned Crown Prince variety grown by McNally’s Family Farm in North County Dublin – a visit to their farm shop in autumn always provides plenty of dinner inspiration.
The House & Garden archive is full of delicious pasta recipes for every season. For more comfort food, try Donal's recipe for gnocchi cacio e pepe with mushrooms and sage, and see all the best recipes from the pages of the magazine for every occasion.
Recipe information
Yield
Serves 4
Ingredients
Preparation
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/400°F/Gas 6.
Step 2
Place the pumpkin on a large baking sheet with the thyme sprigs and toss in the olive oil until all the pieces are coated. Season generously with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 40 minutes, or until tender and caramelised at the edges. Once cooked, keep warm.
Step 3
While the pumpkin cooks, place a large heavy-based frying pan (skillet) over a medium–high heat and add the butter. Add the onions and season generously, tossing to coat completely in the melted butter. Reduce the heat and cook gently until the onions are sweet and caramelised, about 10–15 minutes.
Step 4
Towards the end of the pumpkin cooking time, bring a large pan of water to the boil and generously season with salt. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and reserve a cup of the starchy cooking water for use in the sauce.
Step 5
Increase the heat back up under the pan with the onions, then add the reserved pasta water and bring to a steady simmer. Meanwhile, mash half the cooked pumpkin and add this to the onions. Crumble in almost all of the blue cheese (keep a little back to serve) and stir until you have a smooth, creamy sauce. Working quickly, add the pasta to the pan and stir through until completely coated.
Step 6
Serve the pasta hot in warmed plates topped with the remaining pumpkin slices and blue cheese. Sprinkle with toasted crushed walnuts and top with a generous drizzle of the best-quality extra virgin olive oil you have to hand and a last seasoning of sea salt and black pepper.
