Pumpkin Orecchiette

Makes a large amount enough to make 6 or more plates
Preparation Time: 2 hours



400g Pumpkin diced
700g of Farina doppio 0 plain flour (you will need to adjust as you prepare)
Chilled water if needed to make dough more wet
Fresh sage leaves
Salt for water
Pure butter organic is best


Place diced pumpkin in a pyrex dish with lid and microwave until tender. Once cooked let it cool and mash in a large bowl.  Set aside.

Sieve the flour into another large bowl and place eggs in a well in the centre and mix with your hands slightly until blended, then add the pumpkin mash and continue to blend with hands or in a food processor until glossy and smooth.  Roll out onto bench top and keep kneading until smooth and not too dry or not sticky it must be smooth and elastic.  The consistency needs to be managed by if dry more chilled water and if wet and sticky you need more flour.  Place into a large ball and cover with a tea towel for 30 minutes.

To roll out the dough, divide into two or three manageable portions.  Work one portion at a time and keep the other portions covered with a teatowel.  Flatten dough slightly on floured bench top and roll out from the centre to the outer, rotating the dough.  When you have 1/4 inch thick circle of dough  fold in half and roll it out again.

It is easier to use a  pasta machine to roll out the desired thickness and roll it though several times.  Making the setting smaller each time until the dough is around 2 - 2.5mm thick.

To make orecchiette you must almost make a thumb impression into the pasta. It takes quite some time at first to get the desired shape.

When you have prepared a plate of pasta let it dry laid out on a board covered lightly with flour (white cloth if you can find some) for around 24 hours. Place in fridge air tight container. This way it keeps up to 15 days and up to a month in the freezer.


Prepare some butter and fresh sage leaves in a fry pan and melt butter with sage and turn heat off.

Place pumpkin orecchiette in salted boiling water and cook for less than 3 minutes it will cook very fast.

Then drain pasta and toss through the butter and sage mixture.

Serve immediately with crusty bread.