Everyone loves a quick, mid week meal – and so often that quick ‘go-to’ that will keep everyone in the family happy is pasta {or at least it is in our household}. Sometimes, I whip up family favourites because I can’t be bothered thinking up anything fancy to cook. I don’t need a recipe as I know it off the top of my head. 

However, sometimes I also think ‘Argh, I can’t eat {insert children’s meal choice} one more time’. So I mix it up a little. And that is how I came up with this delicious, quick and easy pasta recipe.

Everyone loves a spaghetti carbonara, and I also think that pumpkin, pinenuts and sage work well with pasta {not to mention the fact that I love to cram another serving of veg into a family meal}.

SPAGHETTI CARBONARA WITH PUMPKIN, PINENUTS AND SAGE

400 grams of spaghetti
20 grams of pinenuts
150 grams of bacon
2 cloves of garlic
5 grams of sage
50 grams of parmesan
300 mls of pouring cream
300 grams of JAP pumpkin
olive oil
salt and pepper

Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil. Meanwhile, cut the pumpkin into 2cm pieces and cook in the boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and mash with a fork.

Add more water to the pan if needed and return to the boil. Cook the spaghetti for 7 minutes or until al dente. Drain, reserving 2 tbsp of the cooking water and set aside. Return the spaghetti to the pot to keep warm.

Meanwhile, roast the pinenuts in a dry frying pan until golden. Remove from the pan and set aside. Cut the bacon into 1 cm strips, finely chop the garlic, pick the leaves of sage and finely shred. Finely grate the parmesan.

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook the bacon for 4 minutes or until crispy. Reduce the heat and add the garlic and sage and cook for a further 2 minutes. Set aside.

Add the pumpkin, cream and reserved cooking water to the frying pan. Mix in half of the parmesan and reduce the heat to low. Add the spaghetti to the pan and toss to coat.

To serve, plate up the spaghetti and top with the crispy bacon, pinenuts and sage, along with as much or as little parmesan as you like.

Do you pimp up old family favourite? What is your favourite pasta combo? How good is Australian pumpkin at the moment? If you choose to whip up one of my recipes , then I would love for you to share it on social media, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #goodfoodweek.