We admit: It is a bit late to hand out a Pumpkin recipe at this time of the year. It’s the end of November and the first excitement about autumn and its orange companion, the pumpkin, is about to turn into a mixture of seasonal winter depressions and the annual Christmas craze. You might also already have had dozens of servings of the autumn classic, pumpkin soup. But actually you can never have to much of pumpkin, right? Now that pumpkin season is just about to end, let’s give this underrated veggie one last hype and worship it by cooking this incredibly delicious pasta dish from Italy: Pasta alla zucca. In this article, we provide you with some hard fact about the health benefits of this bright-colored star. Additionally, we show you one delicious way how to get some more into your system and give you the best recipe to make pasta alla zucca!
Pasta Alla Zucca – What To Expect
Looking at our blog and the countless Italian recipes we have already published, this pasta recipe might probably make you sigh. But, do not give up on this post yet! This pumpkin pasta dish is the perfect food for cold winter evenings. Italian comfort food at its very best!
Some even describe this typical Italian dish as a warm, pumpkinish hug. The special twist about it is that the Pasta is cooked in the pumpkin sauce itself. Like this, the noodles soak up all the good sweet pumpkin aroma. Along with the pasta, you serve in butter roasted sage leaves and, of course, Parmesan. Honestly, this combination is a match made in heaven.
Besides being super yum, you also get in all the healthy nutrients of pumpkin, which actually are a lot. This actually leads to the next point of the article:
Pumpkin – Another Underestimated Superfood
This veggie definitely counts as a superfood concerning all the health benefits that come along with its consumption.
Glowy Skin and Healthy Eyes
To start with one, eating pumpkin makes your skin glow. Pumpkins are packed with lots of skin-friendly nutrients. It contains vitamin C and E and beta-carotene, which is converted into vitamin A inside of the body. All of those nutrients are super important to keep the body’s largest organ, the skin, healthy. Also, pumpkins can help to support your eye health, all the above named nutrients are also known to boost the health of your eyes.
Some More Crazy Health Benefits Of Pumpkin
The consumption of pumpkin can also improve your immune system. This is especially important during this cold and virus-loaded time of the year. According to different researches, vitamin A and C play an significant role in promoting immune function. Adding to those benefits, including pumpkin into your diet can help reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome, the combination of conditions including diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. These conditions come along with an increased risk of coronary heart disease and stroke. Veggies that are high in carotenoids, the pigments that give the pumpkin its bright color, may help prevent that condition.
Last but not least, pumpkins may help to prevent cancer. The antioxidant properties of the above named nutrients can protect your body against certain cancers, for example breast cancer.
Now that you are more than up to date on the positive side effects of eating pumpkin and might actually feel like going for one more round of it before ths season ends, here you go!
How To Make Pasta Alla Zucca
To make 4 servings of this orange goodness, you will need the following ingredients:
- 1 butternut pumpkin (peeled and cut in cubes)
- 500g of pasta (ideally conchiglie, farfalle, fusilli or rigatoni as they serve very well to soak up the sauce)
- 1 onion (peeled and finely cut)
- 1 clove of garlic (peeled and finely cut)
- 10 sage leaves
- 125g of butter
- Parmesan
- salt and pepper to season
- grounded chili
- grounded nutmeg
- vegetable broth
- olive oil
- a bit of white wine (optional)
Ho to proceed:
Start by adding some olive oil to a big pot and heating it. Once the oil is hot, add the pumpkin, the onion and the garlic and fry it for some minutes. Then add as much vegetable brothto fully cover the content. If you want also pour a bit of wine. Leave to cook until the pumpkin starts being soft, which should be after around 15 minutes.
Smash the cooked pumpkin with a potato smasher or a fork and season with salt, pepper, chilli and some pinches of nutmeg. Leave it in the same pot and add the pasta. If needed, add some more of vegetable broth to cover all of the noodles. Put it all back on the stove and leave to cook until the pasta is al dente.
Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small pan and leave to simmer for a short time. Add the sage leaves and fry all of it on medium heat until the butter gets slightly brown and the sage is crunchy.
Once the pasta is al dente, season the pasta to gusto and serve with the fried sage leaves and Parmesan. Now the only task left to complete is: Enjoy this delicious pumpkin-soul-food-pasta!
This recipe was taken from the Sueddeutsche Zeitung Magazin.
If you are looking for a good wine to go with your pasta, check out our blogpost about Franconian wine.