Orecchiette Pasta with Butternut Pumpkin, Broccoli, Chilli, Hazelnuts & Mint

Prepare Ingredients:

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil. Peel and small dice butternut pumpkin into 1 cm chunks. Peel and thinly slice garlic. Zest lemon and cut in half. Pick mint leaves, discard stems. Roughly chop. Cut broccoli into bite size florets.

Toast Hazelnuts & Start Pumpkin:

Heat a deep-sided frypan over medium-high heat. Add hazelnuts and toast in dry pan for 3-4 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove from heat and set aside. Heat 1-2 Tbsp olive oil in the same pan over medium-high heat. Add diced pumpkin and a pinch of salt and cook, tossing occasionally, until pumpkin is crisp-tender, about 8-12 minutes.

Cook Pasta:

Meanwhile, cook orecchiette in pot of boiling salted water until al dente - about 8 minutes. Add the broccoli in with the pasta with 2 minutes remaining of the cooking time. Drain, reserving about 1 cup pasta water.

Cook Sauce:

Add garlic and ¹⁄₄-¹⁄₂ tsp chilli flakes (to taste) to pan with pumpkin, cooking until garlic starts to brown. Immediately add ¹⁄₂ cup reserved pasta water and reduce heat. Add butter and lemon zest (to taste), swirling pan to create a glossy sauce.

Finish Sauce:

Add pasta and broccoli, tossing to coat. Add lemon juice (to taste), parmesan (save some for garnish), more chilli (to taste), and ¹⁄₂ the mint. Add a little more pasta water if necessary and toss to coat everything in the pan. Season to taste. Roughly chop hazelnuts once cool enough to handle.

You Plate It:

Serve pasta topped with chopped hazelnuts, remaining parmesan and remaining mint. Enjoy!