Tortelli di Zucca

Serves 4

Ingredients

400g plain flour

4 eggs

1 medium onion

1 fresh red chilli

1 medium pumpkin

1 tablespoon fresh thyme

400g grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Pour out your flour into a ring shape on a clean surface. Crack the eggs into the space in the middle of the ring and add a pinch of salt. Using your hands, fold together to form a dough. This should take around 10 minutes, or as long as it takes to form a firm yet elastic lump. It is better to over-knead than to underdo it.

2. Take small chunks of dough and flatten with a rolling pin – or a pasta maker if you have one. Form rectangles approximately 2mm thick, 10cm wide and 30cm long.

3. Chop the onion and the chill and add to a frying pan. As they begin frying, peel and chop the pumpkin before adding to the pan. Season with salt and pepper before adding 125 ml water. Cook until the contents of the pan are tender and then remove from the heat and puree using a hand mixer or a blender. Add the grated parmesan cheese and the thyme.

4. Take a teaspoon and place small dollops of the pumpkin mixture in the middle of your pasta sheets. This should take five dollops per sheet. Fold the pasta sheet in half to seal in the pumpkin mixture, leaving roughly 1cm of pasta around each dollop. Repeat with the remaining pasta sheets. Cut evenly to make the ravioli shapes and remember that, if you have any spare dough after trimming, you can re-roll this to make more pasta.

5. When you’re ready to eat, cook the ravioli by bringing a pan of salted water to the boil. Add the ravioli to the pan and cook for roughly eight minutes. Drain and serve either tossed in olive oil with a little parmesan cheese, or with your favourite sauce.