Tagliatelle with pumpkin and speck so good they’ll win you over at the first forkful. This morning at my greengrocer I saw a large pumpkin and I couldn’t resist buying a nice slice. And today for lunch here’s a delicious plate of Pasta with pumpkin cream. The Tagliatelle with pumpkin cream and speck are a first course that combines sweetness and savoriness in perfect balance. The pumpkin cream, velvety and enveloping, embraces the pasta — in this case delicious fresh egg tagliatelle — with its warm color and gently sweet flavor, while crispy speck adds an intense, slightly smoky note that makes every forkful irresistible. Simple recipes are often the best, just like Quick baked pasta or my Creamy risotto with sausage and saffron. The contrast between the softness of the pumpkin cream and the texture of the speck creates a pleasant, harmonious play of textures. This dish was born exactly like this: from the desire to bring something to the table that warms, that smells like home and makes you want to sit together without hurry. It’s a dish that comforts, that unites sweetness with savoriness, creaminess with crunch, transforming simple ingredients into a special moment to share. Let’s run to the kitchen and make it together.
AND DON’T MISS THESE RECIPES TOO:
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4Persone
- Cooking methods: Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Autumn, Winter
- Energy 367.67 (Kcal)
- Carbohydrates 46.98 (g) of which sugars 3.30 (g)
- Proteins 16.18 (g)
- Fat 14.09 (g) of which saturated 2.25 (g)of which unsaturated 2.13 (g)
- Fibers 2.35 (g)
- Sodium 440.00 (mg)
Indicative values for a portion of 220 g processed in an automated way starting from the nutritional information available on the CREA* and FoodData Central** databases. It is not food and / or nutritional advice.
* CREATES Food and Nutrition Research Center: https://www.crea.gov.it/alimenti-e-nutrizione https://www.alimentinutrizione.it ** U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. FoodData Central, 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov
Ingredients for Pasta with pumpkin and speck
- 8.8 oz fresh egg tagliatelle
- 17.6 oz pumpkin
- 1 white onion (medium)
- 1.4 oz grated Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) (about 1/3 cup)
- as needed extra virgin olive oil
- 3.5 oz fresh spreadable cheese (e.g., cream cheese)
- 2.8 oz speck
- as needed salt
- 1 pinch pepper
What you’ll need
- Potato masher
How to prepare Tagliatelle with pumpkin and speck
Clean the pumpkin. Remove the skin, the seeds and the internal fibers. Cut it into small cubes. Pour 3 tablespoons of oil into a pan, add the peeled and thinly sliced onion and the pumpkin. Let cook over medium heat for 12–14 minutes, adding a little salt. While the pumpkin cooks, cook the pasta in plenty of salted water.
At the end of cooking, simply mash the pumpkin with a potato masher directly in the pan. If you prefer not to find any pumpkin pieces, you can use an immersion blender. Add the spreadable cheese (such as cream cheese) to the pumpkin cream. Stir. In another pan, lightly sauté the speck cut into thin strips with 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil for a few minutes until it becomes crispy.
Drain the tagliatelle al dente, reserving a little of the cooking water. Toss the pasta into the pan with the sauce. Add a pinch of pepper and the grated Parmesan. Mix and, if needed, to make the dish creamier add a few tablespoons of the pasta cooking water. Serve the tagliatelle with pumpkin garnishing each plate with the crispy speck.
See you tomorrow with a new recipe, hugs, Loredana
If you try it, tell me your version: did you make the cream even silkier? Did you add an extra crunchy note? Your reinterpretations are always the best part of this cooking journey.
Loredana’s Tips
You can substitute speck with smoked pancetta and the spreadable cheese with cooking cream, liquid fresh cream or ricotta.
Don’t miss the recipe for Pumpkin and chickpea cream
Your questions
Can I prepare the pumpkin cream in advance?
Yes, the pumpkin cream can be prepared the day before and stored in the refrigerator in a container. When using it, warm it in a pan adding a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water to make it velvety again.
Can I omit the spreadable cheese from the pumpkin cream?
To obtain a velvety pumpkin cream without cream or cheese, you can blend the pumpkin with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and add a little pasta cooking water.
Can I use another pasta shape?
Of course. Although tagliatelle are ideal because they hold the cream well, you can use fettuccine, pappardelle or even short pasta like rigatoni or mezze maniche.
Can I make this recipe vegetarian?
Yes, you can make a vegetarian version by omitting the speck and adding chopped nuts or toasted seeds to keep a crunchy note.
