Preparation

• The weight of the pumpkin refers to the vegetable without skin and seeds.

  1) Peel the pumpkin, remove the seeds, and cut it into not too small pieces (or thin slices), sprinkle with a pinch of fine salt and place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven at mid-height at 350°F for about 25/30 minutes, being careful not to burn it.

  2) Remove the wilted pumpkin from the oven and let it cool for about ten minutes.

  3) Transfer the warm pumpkin to a blender, add the crumbled amaretti, salt, whole egg, a pinch of ground pepper and nutmeg, the Parmigiano, the lemon juice, and blend until you obtain a smooth puree. If the puree turns out excessively runny, you can fix it by adding one or two generous tablespoons of breadcrumbs.

  4) Transfer the puree into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge to infuse.

  5) In the meantime, prepare the tortelli by sifting the flour onto a worktable (you can also use a mixer). In the center of the flour, make a well or “fountain,” so to speak, where you will put the eggs and a pinch of fine salt. Starting from the center of the so-called fountain, work the ingredients with your fingers until you get a rough dough. Knead the dough quite vigorously until it appears smooth, homogeneous, and does not stick to your hands; it will take at least 7/8 minutes. Wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least an hour.

  6) After an hour, take the dough and cut it into pieces more or less the same size. Using a rolling pin or a pasta machine, roll out thin sheets between one-twelfth and one-fifth of an inch thick and about 4 inches wide.

  7) On each sheet, leaving a space of two fingers from the outer edge, place small heaps of filling two fingers apart from each other. Cover the filling with the other half of the sheet and, using your fingers, make dimples between one filling and another, trying to let out the excess air that would cause the tortelli to swell too much during cooking with the risk of opening; seal the tortelli with the tines of a fork. Continue until all the ingredients are used up. At this point, you can cook your pumpkin tortelli immediately in plenty of salted water for about 5 minutes or you can freeze them, placing them on a tray without overlapping them and perfectly covering them with plastic wrap. In this case, you will cook them without first thawing them.

  For cooking. When the water boils, salt it, let it come back to a boil, and dip in the tortelli. Using a slotted spoon, turn them over several times in the cooking water.

  Meanwhile, in a large skillet, melt the butter over low flame, which we will flavor with a few torn sage leaves. When the butter is completely melted and starts to foam, add the tortelli and let them soak in for about 30 seconds. Serve immediately, finishing the dish with a sprinkle of grated Parmigiano.