Calabrian Pasta with Roasted Squash Cream (Pasta con la Zucca)

This Calabrian pasta dish combines your favourite pasta with a silky squash or pumpkin cream sauce, garnished with toasted almonds and chilli oil.

‘Pasta con la Zucca’ actually has various interpretations in Italy. Some regions, even towns, prepare it differently to others. It can often manifest as a cream sauce made with puréed, roasted/boiled squash or pumpkin, or with solid pieces of squash, either roasted or boiled, tossed through fresh pasta after cooking. The one thing in common, however, is that this dish is made in the autumn using the season’s best squash and pumpkins, and it’s such a great dish that we should all get behind it too. My personal favourite is the cream sauce version, which makes every mouthful of this pasta dish a comfortingly rinse-and-repeat eating experience of good flavour, all you need is a spoon to enjoy it. That’s the version I’ll teach you today. Despite calling it a cream sauce, there’s actually no cream added to this. All the creaminess comes from the blended vegetables. The Calabrian version of the dish is spicier, with chillies roasted in with the squash and also added at the end as a chilli oil - feel free to leave any of these out for a milder experience. I highly recommend serving this dish with toasted almonds on top too, which take it from a great pasta dish to a thrilling textural ride. Let’s go!