Pumpkin, brown butter, sage pastina

A heavenly meeting between classic pastina and pumpkin, brown butter and sage pasta. For me, it’s an autumnal version of pastina, an Italian classic made from cooking star-shaped pasta in chicken broth and sauce-ing it up with parmesan, butter and egg. It’s ultra comforting as is, perfect for cold and sniffily days.

You’ve likely had a pumpkin, brown butter and sage pasta before. Made with roasted pumpkin cubes, a nutty brown butter and fried sage sauce that is too easy to prepare. It’s popular with gnocchi and evokes fall/winter feels.

Together, a classic pastina made with roasted pumpkin helps create a super smooth pasta sauce as the pumpkin slightly breaks down as the pasta cooks. Finished with a crispy sage brown butter to tie in the comforting feels and toasted aromas.

Makes two servings.

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken stock or bone broth, low-sodium or reduced sodium

1 cup pumpkin, cubed

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

pinch of salt + ground black pepper

1/2 cup stelline / star shaped pasta, or orzo/risoni

1 egg, room temperature

4 tbsp butter, salted

1/4 cup parmesan, plus more for garnish, crumbled

handful of sage leaves, stems removed, fresh

Method:

Roast the pumpkin: preheat oven to 185C/365F. Line a small baking tray with baking paper and add pumpkin, a few sprigs of sage, olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to combine. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until lightly roasted. Remove from the oven. Remove the sage stems and discard.

Make the sage brown butter: bring a large fry pan to medium heat and add 3 tbsp butter. Once it starts to bubble, add sage and sauté as the butter turns a light golden color and the sage crisps. Once you see deep golden specks on the bottom of the pan, remove from heat and pour into a small bowl.

Make pastina: to the same fry pan, keep the heat on medium and add the chicken broth, pasta and roasted pumpkin. Stir it gently and allow it to come to a simmer. Stir occasionally until the pasta absorbs most of the liquid. Once the pasta is cooked and the liquid is mostly gone, turn off the heat.

Temper the egg: crack an egg and whisk it in a small mixing bowl. Add a spoonful of the pastina into the egg and whisk it. Do it once more and set aside.

Make it sauce-y: into the pastina, add 1 tbsp butter, parmesan and the egg. Mix, taste for salt.

Assemble: portion pastina into two bowls and add any extra parmesan, then spoon over brown butter sage. Enjoy!