It’s that time of the year when we see pumpkins everywhere and this turkey and pumpkin bolognese is the perfect way to tuck in after a night of trick-or-treating and pumpkin carving!
PUMPKIN BOLOGNESE
I love this warming autumn Bolognese and while I’ve made with turkey bacon and mince turkey, you could easily make it vegetarian. This recipe actually uses pumpkin in 3 different ways: in the fettuccine, the sauce and diced within. Pumpkin is a great pasta substitute as its fibrous, nutritious and really easy to make: you can just use your simple vegetable peeler to cut the ribbons.
Ingredients
1 large pumpkin (for fettuccine, puree and cubes)
1kg pumpkin fettuccine
400g pumpkin, 1 cm cubes 1 tbsp olive oil
150g onion, finely chopped 100g celery, finely chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced
400 grams organic turkey mince 6 rashers of turkey bacon
1-2 tsp fresh herbs, leaves only
1-2 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper a few pinches chilli/ cayenne powder (optional)
400g pureed pumpkin
250-300 ml water (optional almond milk for creamy taste)
2 cans (800g) diced tomatoes or 800g fresh chopped tomatoes
Method
- Preheat oven to 220°c.
- Peel pumpkin, cut 800g of flesh into 2cm cubes, coat with olive oil and roast for 15-20 mins or until golden. When pumpkin is ready, puree 400g and set aside for sauce.
- With a large vegetable peeler, create 800g ribbons of fettuccine from raw pumpkin.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat, cook rashers 5-7 mins until it’s just beginning to brown.
- Add chopped vegetables and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently, until onion is translucent and soft, add garlic cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add turkey mince breaking it up with a spoon, 1/4 teaspoon (to start) salt, plus pepper and cayenne, and fresh herbs. Cook until meat is brown.
- Add pumpkin puree, tomatoes, water or milk and bring to a simmer. Cover pot, reduce heat to low, and allow sauce to cook very gently at a very low simmer for 20 minutes. Season to taste with remaining salt and toss in roasted pumpkin cubes to warm through.
- Boil water in kettle, pour over raw ribbons. Soak for 3 minutes, and drain.
- Immediately plate warm fettuccine and pour hot bolognese on top.