Tagliatelle with Pumpkin, Ginger, Bacon, Sun-Dried Tomato & Sage
It's Autumn, pumpkin is in season and there is no time like the present to get started with enjoying it in every possible way! Especially if you can get these wonderful Hokkaido pumpkins where you are, they are the absolute favorites here in Germany!
I decided to make a nice pasta dish this evening, combining the slightly sweet pumpkin with salty bacon, Parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes to give it balance, ginger to give it spice and sage to give it a great, seasonal touch of savory seasoning... And boy! Was it ever good!!!
One saucepan, one frying pan, around 20 minutes cooking time at the most... And the result was one of the best pasta dishes I have had in quite a while! Needless to say, I have had some pretty delicious pasta dishes lately... So yes, this was really, really good!
As you can see, this was a very small pumpkin, and I only needed about 1/3rd of it to prepare 2 portions of pasta... Just about 1 coffee mug full once diced. Other than that, I needed a little handful of chopped bacon, 1 spring onion, 1 sun-dried tomato, 3-4 leaves of fresh sage, a little ginger, a little Parmesan cheese for grating and of course salt, pepper and olive oil... As always when it comes to Italian food!
This may seem a little out of the ordinary, but in fact the flavors all harmonize in a wonderful way and the result is a smooth, satisfying and most of all seasonal dish that is perfect for a quick supper on a cold-night, but also impressive enough to serve to guests too!
Begin by finely chopping the pumpkin, onion and bacon and frying them together with a little finely diced ginger, in nothing but the bacons own fat.
Start your water boiling at the same time for your pasta and get the bacon and pumpkin sizzling together in the meantime. The bacon will not have too much fat and this will immediately be absorbed by the pumpkin and onion, which will of course fill them with good flavor- especially in combination with th ginger... Mmm!
Pop in your pasta to boil for 3-4 minutes and keep stirring your pumpkin in the meantime, so that it will soften and brown and absorb the onion and bacon flavors.
After just 4-5 minutes of cooking, add the pasta with plenty of the water it has been boiling into your frying pan to deglaze it and bring out all of the good flavors you have had developing there.
Continue cooking the pasta together with the pumpkin and add the sun-dried tomatoes and sage leaves, which should also be nicely, finely chopped. Keep stirring for the next 4-5 minutes, adds a little more of the pasta water as you go if necessary.
After 9-10 minutes of cooking, the pasta will have soaked up all of the juices and will me nicely coated in a smooth, rich "sauce" of sorts, packed with all of those great flavors.
Add a light drizzle of olive oil and toss before serving, then add plenty of freshly ground pepper and Parmesan to take it over the top flavor-wise! And then serve straight away with no further ado!
Mix together, so that the Parmesan coats the pasta nicely... And swoon over the wonderful aroma! This is the taste of a beautiful Autumn meal, all cooked together in one pan and so easy to achieve!
Unpretentious, uncomplicated and unbelievably good! Need I say more?
Ok, I will say one last thing of course... Buon appetito!
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