I would say this is a clean-eating recipe as I just want to keep all ingredients fresh and natural including the sauce for the pasta which is basically made of pumpkin puree.
Pumpkin itself is quite sweet and I’ve always like adding pumpkin puree into porridge to give it flavour so I don’t have to season it too much. I thought it might work the same for pastas too and so I experimented with the idea.
In order to cut the ‘sweetness’ of the pasta dish, I pan-fried some white fish in butter to give it some savouriness. Also, as it can get pretty sickly to eat pasta with a mushy sauce, I added crunchy corn kernels and fresh lettuce to give it that extra crunch and bite. It’s an absolutely healthy meal. 😉
Corn & Pumpkin Pasta with Butter Seared Flounder
Ingredients (serves 2)
2 skinless flounder fillets (or any white fish), sliced into thick chunks
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tbsp olive oil
180g spaghetti (or a pasta of your choice), cooked according to packet instructions
corn kernels from 1 steamed corn cob
250g pumpkin, steamed & pureed
a few lettuce leaves, coarsely chopped
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
1. Season the fish with salt and pepper.
2. Melt the butter in olive oil in a frying pan and pan-fry the fish till cooked through. Remove and set aside.
3. In the same frying pan with heat turned off, mix in the pumpkin puree and season with salt and pepper to taste if desired.
4. Add the cooked spaghetti, corn and lettuce and toss thoroughly till well combined.
5. Serve the spaghetti with the fish on top.