PASTA LA VISTA BABY

Roast Pumpkin and Feta Pasta

I always imagined post Arnies corny line that if I should ever have an Italian Restaurant, it would be called Pasta La Vista…in the absence of such an occurrence, this is probably the next best thing. I LOVE homemade pasta and of course with the help of Thermomix, nothing could be easier. I dashed home from work, whipped up a  batch of dough, let it rest whilst I searched for the arm to my pasta roller, and after working up a sweat as I scoured cupboards and drawers with no luck, gave up on the home made and quickly cooked some fettucine I had in the pantry, still did an outstanding sauce and yes, we were eating in no time. As for the lost art of rolling pasta? Hasta la Vista baby!

NEED:
40g fettucine per serving, cooked as directed on package

300g butternut pumpkin cubed and roasted

handful fresh herbs of choice

3 cloves garlic

50g romano cheese

150g pine nuts toasted in dry pan

juice 2 lemons

kalamata olives

few semi dried sundried tomatoes

100g Danish feta

sea salt and EVOO to taste

DO:
Roast pumpkin in fan forced 200°C oven for around 20-25 minutes and set aside.

Place herbs into Thermomix bowl and chop for a few sec/speed 7.

Place garlic and cheese into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 sec/speed 9.

Add pine nuts, juice and enough EVOO to make a fairly thin pesto. (I used 100g)

Toss pesto through warm pasta, add olives, tomatoes, roasted pumpkin and then crumble feta over the top. Drizzle with additional EVOO and garnish with a few fresh herb leaves. Eat immediately.

Pasta is always stunning served with fresh French Sticks…with or without the garlic butter.  Looks like I’m going to need a Ciabatta recipe up here, if I’m going to help keep European Union relations in good shape! And no I didn’t find the rest of the pasta roller…looks like I’ll be needing a brand spanking new one!