Pumpkin Pasta Dough

We almost always make our own pasta and this dough is another delightful recipe to add to our collection. I used canned pumpkin puree and large eggs so it only took 2 cups all-purpose flour. I cut the dough into wide noodles and served it with a sage cream sauce. Next time I want to make ravioli, so now I’m on a mission to find the right filling.

I’m fairly new to making my own pasta and still struggle with a delicate dough. This dough, however, is so easy to work with that I was surprised how quickly it came together. The addition of the squash gave the pasta a brilliant warm shade of yellow and just a touch of sweetness.

Once I had run the first ball through the machine, I decided to make ravioli instead. I did keep enough of the dough to make a single serving of pappardelle, just for the sake of taste testing. I used 00 flour and 2 large eggs along with pureed butternut squash. I found that the dough didn’t need any water added to it; after a few pulses in the food processor, it came together easily. I spent some time kneading until it was silken and elastic before wrapping and letting it rest.

I had originally thought about just making a quick sauce and cutting the dough into simple, rustic pappardelle. I tried the pappardelle with a good olive oil and a sprinkle of sea salt and found the flavor to be mild with a hint of pumpkin.

The biggest appeal of this dough was, for me, the texture and malleability. It was dead simple to roll out and form into ravioli. I filled them with sausage, blue cheese, and the leftover pureed squash. They boiled up beautifully, keeping their shape and beautiful color. I was able to make 18 medium ravioli along with a decent-sized bowl of sneaky “testing” pappardelle.

It’s been many years since I’ve made fresh homemade pasta, but this pumpkin pasta dough made me remember how delicious, gratifying, and easy it is. I happened to have both 00 and semolina on hand which made a beautifully silky and supple dough.

I added about 2 teaspoons of water in droplets as I was pulsing the dough in the food processor (which took less than 3 minutes), and at that point I THOUGHT I had added enough water, but when I started to knead the dough I realized it was still too dry. I could tell because it not only looked dry but would tear a bit when I pushed the dough with the heel of my hand. So I just wet my hands and continued to knead until the dough took the water in. I had to do that twice and after that I could feel that the dough was just about right; no dry spots but not at all sticky. It had a texture similar to Play-Doh, but maybe slightly stiffer.

After letting it rest for 30 minutes I cut it into 4 pieces and cranked it through my Acme pasta roller. I started it on #1 and went consecutively to #5. Then I put each long ribbon through the tagliatelle roller cutter. I rigged up a drying rack made of two cooling racks teepeed together on a half sheet pan. I let the pasta dry for about 30 minutes and then quickly cooked it in generously salted boiling water for 1 minute. I tossed the hot pasta along with some of the pasta water with a quick sauce made from butter, mascarpone, white wine, a splash of stock, chives, and sage. Topped it with some fresh pepper and grated Reggiano. SOOOOO DANG GOOOOD! And somehow I’m not even in that much of a pasta coma right now (even though I ate 3 of the 4 servings it made!)

I saved one dried serving (tossed with a bit of semolina) to see how it holds up in the fridge. I cooked the leftover portion two days after originally making it and it held up beautifully and cooked up perfectly well!

But wow, was this pasta an absolute delight! Next time when my picky daughter isn’t around to object, I will make a creamy pumpkin sage sauce to go with it to amp up the autumn flavors. And maybe a crumble of blue cheese and some chopped toasted walnuts or hazelnuts over the top as well!

I used canned Libby’s pumpkin puree and 00 instead of AP flour. I used 2 large eggs, not extra large and I’m glad I did, because xl eggs would have made it too sticky. I liked the option of adding water until it was the right level of moistness, rather than adding more flour to tamp down the stickiness. A good trick for LIGHTLY dusting any work surface with flour is to tap a fine mesh strainer rather than scattering with your hand. I added 2.5 teaspoons of water while pulsing, then twice generously wet my hands while kneading. I made tagliatelle. I got 4 servings as a main course, but it could stretch to 6 servings as a first course.

Coming into fall with all the pumpkin and other winter squash varieties available, I often have run through how a pumpkin-flavored noodle could play with sauces, even though I am a pasta novice. This was an easy recipe to try out my ideas, scaled to a batch I could work with, and in fact I divided the dough into two different projects.

The dough is forgiving enough that you can refrigerate it overnight, although it might need a little more flour the next day, it actually behaved quite well. The dough came together with very little fuss, just a few pulses. I discovered I did not have semolina on hand, but a little research suggested a higher protein flour and I had some that met that spec just perfectly for the extra 2 tablespoons plus dusting.

Since this overall was a small batch, I tried rolling it by hand instead of digging out my pasta roller (also, where is it?). It’s a good workout and the more space and the more comfortable height counter or table you have, the better. I aimed for translucent and about 1/16 inch or so thickness. It wasn’t beautiful, but I managed to use all the dough.

The first night, I made a small batch of ravioli with a pumpkin ricotta filling and gently cooked them (5 to 7 minutes) and then made a brown butter sage sauce and added some pumpkin towards the end which transformed it. It also was a great excuse to use sage which I have a bumper crop of and it begs to be included anywhere I can justify some crisped leaves.

I think the more flavorful the pumpkin or squash you use, the more interesting the pasta will be, but to dip into trying a homemade pasta project, you should feel completely okay about using a can of pumpkin puree. I planned the two meals utilizing the remainder of the puree so none went wasted or wanting for work. This also means if you have EXTRA freshly roasted squash, you now have an easy way to use up that last 1/3 cup in a delicious manner.

For future batches, I plan to pair the pumpkin pasta with either a spicy Italian sausage based sauce or maybe artichokes, so the sweetness comes thru as well as contrasting and more complex flavors.