During the Christmas holidays, we all proudly turn to more refined dishes, greatly varying our eating habits to best celebrate family unity, especially at the table! Thanks to our culinary traditions from north to south, we can enjoy both typical dishes and more creative recipes each time. The common denominator is always the same, decorating the table for the festivities and sharing something that can amaze and captivate them at first taste with your loved ones! These lumaconi are certainly a spectacular first course to offer not only at Christmas but also on other important occasions because it is particularly succulent and tasty, yet lighter and healthier at the same time. It is made with a very particular type of pasta that lends itself to being stuffed in a thousand ways, so here the possibility for free reinterpretations on combinations and pairings to propose can really go far beyond the most classic and traditional ones! I chose pumpkin as the main ingredient paired with broccoli, reduced to a cream, in place of béchamel. A dish rich in flavors, made even more savory by the anchovies in oil added to the filling along with Asiago cheese. For those who love to impress at the table, but with an eye on health, this is a dish I highly recommend! And happy holidays!
If impressing is your mission, also try these alternative first courses:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Economical
- Preparation time: 35 Minutes
- Portions: 4 people
- Cooking methods: Boiling, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
Ingredients
- 500 g lumaconi (or conchiglioni)
- 790 g pumpkin (500 g net)
- 500 g broccoli
- 1 golden onion
- 1 fresh green onion
- 4 anchovies in oil
- 500 ml vegetable broth
- 70 g Asiago cheese
- 40 g grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 30 g butter (+ as needed)
- as needed salt
- as needed pepper
Tools
- 1 Knife
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 Melon Baller
- 3 Saucepans
- 1 Immersion Blender
- 1 Colander
- 1 Baking Dish
- 1 Ladle
Steps:
Start by cleaning the pumpkin, removing the outer skin, and, with the help of a melon baller, also removing the internal seeds and filaments.
Cut it on a cutting board first into slices and then into cubes.
Separately, wash the broccoli florets thoroughly under running water, then clean them by removing the outer skin.
In a large pot, prepare a mince of onion and fresh green onion with 2 tablespoons of oil and brown them for a couple of minutes over high heat.
Add the pumpkin cubes and let them flavor for another minute.
Then cover with hot broth, bring to a boil, cover with a lid and cook for 20 minutes.
In a second pot, blanch the broccoli florets in slightly salted water for 8-10 minutes.
After this time, take about ten of them, draining them, and set aside. Then continue cooking the rest of the broccoli for another 2-3 minutes or until they appear soft.
With a ladle, remove the excess broth, and blend with an immersion blender until you get a homogeneous and semi-liquid cream.
Meanwhile, put plenty of salted water for the pasta and cook the lumaconi al dente. Drain them and run them under cold water to stop the cooking. When the pumpkin is cooked and the broth slightly reduced, season with salt and pepper, and turn off the heat.
Butter a baking dish and transfer the pasta to it.
Fill the individual lumaconi and the spaces between them with the pumpkin.
Then also fill them with some whole broccoli florets kept aside.
Finish with anchovies cut in half and Asiago slices.
Cover with a generous layer of broccoli cream and sprinkle with plenty of grated Parmesan cheese.
Place in a preheated oven at 375°F for 30 minutes or until the cheese is completely melted. Remove from the oven, let cool for a few minutes, and serve.
And voila… the baked lumaconi with pumpkin and broccoli are ready to be enjoyed!
Bon Appetit from La Cucina di FeFè!
Storage
👉 You can store the baked stuffed lumaconi in the fridge inside suitable refrigeration containers for 2-3 days, or freeze them in single servings for up to 1 month.
Tips, Notes, Variations, and Suggestions
🟣 For a completely vegetarian version, try replacing the anchovies with sun-dried tomatoes in oil cut into strips or sautéed champignon mushrooms, or you could enrich the lumaconi with fresh cheese such as stracchino or robiola.
🟣For a flexitarian version, try replacing the anchovies with crumbled sausage and previously cooked in a pan.
🟣If you can’t find lumaconi, you could also opt for other types of pasta that hold the sauce well, like conchiglioni, pipe rigate, paccheri, or cannelloni cut in half, etc.
