Even though I left Norway when I was 17 my taste buds are still pretty Scandi. I like my sandwiches open, I like the combination of cheese and jam. My coffee is always strong and my tea is always black. Marzipan is delicious to me, as is liquorice…even the salty kind. I will always be fond of cinnamon and raisin buns are my favourite thing ever. Bread should always be dark and thick, cloudberries are natures golden child. Salmon is eaten with boiled potatoes, sprinkled with dill. Chocolate milk is restorative after a hard training session.

And pumpkin, to me pumpkin is savoury. It is roasted with sage and tossed into a salad with tangy goats cheese. It is paired with charred beetroot and topped with walnuts. It is pureed and stirred through peppery mashed potatoes. To me its on the same level as sweet potatoes and parsnips and all the other delicious autumn root veg. I can’t get my head around pumpkin pie, or pumpkin lattes just yet. So when a hokkaido found its way into the shopping it was chopped, drizzled with oil and sage and roasted. Then I turned it into puree, partly because I thought it would be useful for the baby, and partly because I had the one pot pasta on my agenda.

Cooking pasta is hardly that strenuous and even with a homemade sauce you are probably only left with two pans and a colander to wash. But one pot pasta is exactly that, its a kind of self saucing pasta that doesn’t require draining. The water that the pasta cooks in helps form the sauce, so all you do is cook and serve. You could try this out with any pasta shape and with any ‘sauce’ you fancy. Throw in penne with some tomatoes, onion, chilli and basil, or try a creamy sauce with wilted greens. Honestly whatever you fancy. I wanted to do pumpkin because I could imagine that the richness of the puree would help make a thick silky sauce, and it did.

All I did was place the pasta into a large shallow pan, then added a chopped shallot, some chilli, some fresh sage and a few spoons of pumpkin puree. Add water, stir over a medium heat for 10 mins or so….watch the magic happen then devour.

Ingredients (serves 4)
300g Spaghetti
3 tbsp pumpkin puree
1 finely chopped shallot
1 tbsp chopped sage
1tsp chilli flakes
400ml boiling water
Salt and pepper

Method
Place the spaghetti into a wide enough pan for it to lie flat
Add all the ingredients to the pan
Bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer stirring to stop the pasta clumping, If the sauce gets too thick before the pasta is fully cooked then add more water as needed
Once the pasta is cooked remove from the heat and allow the sauce to thicken for a minute or two
Stir in some goats cheese or parmesan if desired and then serve