After making yesterday’s butternut squash risotto, I still had half of the pumpkin puree left. I opened my refrigerator and pondered what to do with the leftover puree. Then I noticed a nice piece of gorgonzola, and I quickly made up my mind as the sweetness of the pumpkin would work very well with the pungent blue cheese. Fusilli are a great pasta shape for this, as they have a great capacity for ‘absorbing’ the puree. I chose wholewheat fusilli, because they are more nutritious and have a nice nutty flavor that works well with the pumpkin and gorgonzola. But you could just as easily use regular pasta.

A note about nomenclature. In many languages, butternut squash is called a pumpkin. In Australia and NZ, it is even called butternut pumpkin in their local version of English. In Italian, both are referred to as “zucca”, and in Dutch both are called “pompoen”. And since you could substitute the butternut squash in this recipe for a pumpkin, I am calling it a pumpkin in today’s post.

This recipe is very quick and easy if you already have the pumpkin puree. If not, find out how to make the pumpkin puree (which isn’t hard, but does take some time) in yesterday’s recipe.

Ingredients

For 2 servings

150 grams (.33 lb) wholewheat fusilli, or other short pasta

250 grams (1 cup) pumpkin puree

80 grams (3 oz) gorgonzola

30 grams (1 oz) freshly grated parmigiano reggiano

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt and 150 grams of wholewheat fusilli. Set the timer for 2 minutes less than the time indicated for al dente on the package.

In the meantime, preheat the broiler and start with the ‘sauce’. In an oven proof (broiler proof!) dish, combine 250 grams of pumpkin puree with 30 grams of freshly grated parmigiano reggiano and some (about 60 ml, 1/4 cup) of the pasta cooking water. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Mix everything.

When the timer beeps, drain the pasta and add it to the oven dish.

Mix well until the coils of the fusilli have absorbed most of the sauce.

Dot with 80 grams of gorgonzola.

Broil for a couple of minutes…

…until the cheese has melted….

…and serve on preheated plates.

Wine pairing

This is nice with an aromatic white wine that is slightly off-dry, for example a pinot gris or gewurztraminer from Alsace. A touch of the residual sugar in the wine will work well with the sweetness of the pumpkin and of course with the blue cheese.

Flashback

About two years ago I started experimenting with Thai cooking, including making my own curry paste from scratch. I am really glad that I did, because I discovered much more complexity and elegance than I had expected, despite the spicy hotness. One of my favorite dishes is still Thai fish cakes with homemade sweet chilli sauce with peanuts and cucumber.