Baked Feta & Pumpkin Rigatoni with Chilli, Hazelnut & Sage Butter
Feeds: 4
1 hours 30 minutes
Rigatoni
Baked Feta & Pumpkin Rigatoni with Chilli, Hazelnut & Sage Butter
Sweet roasted pumpkin and creamy baked feta melt into a velvety sauce, tossed through rigatoni and finished with a crunchy chilli, hazelnut and sage butter. It’s cosy autumn comfort that’s made for sharing. If you're cooking for one, make the full batch of sauce, then cook just one portion of pasta and stir a few big spoonfuls through it. The rest keeps for several days in the fridge, or you can freeze it. Loosen it with a splash of water when you reheat it.
Grace Chau
Feeds: 4
1 hours 30 minutes
Ingredients
-
700g pumpkin (prepped weight - peeled, deseeded and chopped)
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1 block of feta
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4 tbsp olive oil
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½ white onion
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6 cloves of garlic (skin on)
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5g sage leaves, chopped
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Black pepper
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Salt
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Pasta water to loosen
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Half a vegetable stock cube (optional)
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450g rigatoni
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For the butter:
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5-10g whole sage leaves
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40 blanched hazelnuts, chopped
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100g salted butter
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1 tsp chilli flakes
Rigatoni
From: £4.95
Method
1
Preheat your oven to 180c.
2
Peel and deseed your pumpkin, chopping it into ½ inch chunks. Place the pumpkin in a dish with the whole garlic cloves, chopped sage and onion. Toss everything in 4 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Place in the middle of the oven for 25 minutes.
3
Toast your chopped hazelnuts in a dry pan and set aside once golden.
4
After 25 minutes make room for the feta in the middle, crack over more black pepper and add another tablespoon of olive oil, then return to the oven for a further 25 minutes.
5
Meanwhile, cook the rigatoni according to the instructions on the packet. Drain and reserve the salted starchy pasta water. Optional: dissolve half a vegetable stock cube through the water and set the pasta aside in the large saucepan.
6
As the pasta cooks, melt the butter in the saucepan with the hazelnuts and add the chilli. Throw in the sage leaves after a few minutes and allow them to crisp up before turning off the heat.
7
Pour several ladlefuls of the pasta water into a high speed blender or deep saucepan if using a handheld blender.
8
Take the dish out of the oven and squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins back into the dish. Spoon the contents of the dish into either the blender or deep saucepan and blend into a thick soup-like sauce. Taste and season accordingly.
9
Tip in the pasta and combine with the sauce. Add a little more pasta water if needed to loosen further. Spoon into bowls and top with the chilli sage butter.
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