Discover this month's delicious recipes, perfectly paired with a REAL drink!

Pumpkin tortelli with sage and walnut butter

Freshly homemade pasta always taste the best and it is enhanced here with a pumpkin and ricotta filling and a rich, nutty butter sauce.

Perfect with a glass of Royal Flush, that compliments dishes with buttery white sauces.

Ingredients

For the filling:

• 1 small cooking pumpkin (not the carving kind, approximately 500g/1lb 4oz cooked weight), cut into large wedges with skin left on
• Olive oil, for drizzling
• 100g/3½oz ricotta
• 50g/1¾oz freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra to serve
• 20g/¾oz mustard fruits or stem ginger, finely chopped
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the pasta dough:

• 300g/10½oz ‘00’ flour or strong white flour, plus extra for kneading
• 3 free-range eggs, plus 2 free-range eggs, beaten (for sealing the dough)

For the butter:

• 150g/5½oz butter
• 100g/3½oz walnuts, roughly chopped
• 1 small bunch of fresh sage, leaves picked

Method

• To make the filling, preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Take a large piece of kitchen foil, big enough to completely contain the pumpkin, and put the wedges inside.
• Drizzle the pumpkin with the oil and season with salt and pepper. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and seal up the foil parcel. Place on a baking tray and roast in the oven for 45 minutes or until soft. Leave to cool, then scrape the pumpkin from the skin and set aside.
• To make the pasta dough, place the flour in a bowl and crack the eggs into the bowl. Mix until incorporated.
• Start to knead in the bowl until the dough comes together, then tip onto a work surface and continue kneading for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and there are no white specks of flour visible. If the dough feels sticky, knead in a small amount of extra flour. Wrap the dough in kitchen foil and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, mash the pumpkin roughly with a fork to remove any lumps. Stir in the ricotta until combined. Add the Parmesan, then stir in the mustard fruits until evenly combined.
• Roll out the pasta dough using a pasta machine. Starting on the widest setting, feed the dough through the machine, narrowing the setting each time until it reaches the second-to-last thinnest setting and the dough is thin and supple.
• Cut each sheet of pasta into sections that are about 50cm/20in long. On each section, spoon teaspoons of filling in a line that is 2.5cm/1in from the long edge of the pasta section and leaving a generous thumb-width gap between each teaspoon of filling.
• Brush all the exposed dough with the beaten egg then fold the pasta onto itself, trapping the filling inside. Use a hooked finger to press around the mound of filling, removing any air gaps and sealing the pasta together. Use a fluted pasta wheel to cut the pasta into individual pieces, then neaten the edges if necessary.
• Bring a saucepan of salted water to the boil and simmer the tortelli for 4–5 minutes or until the pasta parcels rise to the surface. Drain thoroughly, reserving some of the cooking water.
• To make the butter, melt the butter in a frying pan and cook the walnuts and sage for a couple of minutes until the butter has infused. Add the tortelli to the butter. If it looks at all dry, add a couple of tablespoons of cooking water to the pan to loosen.
• Divide the tortelli between plates and top with Parmesan. Serve immediately.

Lemon pepper tarka dal 

This creamy red lentil dal is finished with a powerful tarka – black pepper, lemon zest, curry leaves, cumin and coriander seeds tempered in ghee. Tarka is like rocket fuel for dal and is poured over at the end to add extra aromatic flavour.

Perfect with a glass of Dry Dragon, our Dry White non-alc-alternative.

Ingredients:

For the dal:

• 200g/7oz red lentils
• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 medium onion, grated
• 1 tbsp grated ginger
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• ½ tsp ground turmeric
• ½ tsp chilli powder
• ½ tsp ground coriander
• ½ tsp garam masala
• 1½ tsp salt
• 1 litre/1¾ pint boiling water
• pinch bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander to garnish

• 2 tbsp ghee
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 8–10 fresh curry leaves
• 1 tbsp chopped coriander stalks
• 1 large lemon, zest only

Method:

• To make the dal, wash the lentils in 2–3 changes of water. In a bowl, cover the lentils with enough boiling water to completely submerge and allow to soak for 15–20 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

• Melt the ghee in a large pan and add the onions. Sauté for 10–12 minutes until the onions begin to caramelise and turn a light golden brown colour.

• Add the ginger, garlic, tomato, turmeric, chilli powder, ground coriander, garam masala and salt. Stir well and cook over a medium heat for 2–3 minutes.

• Drain the lentils of the soaking water and add them to the pan, along with 1 litre boiling water and the bicarbonate of soda (this will help soften the lentils quickly). Give everything a quick stir and cover the pan with a tight-fitting lid. Cook over a medium-low heat for 25 minutes, or until the lentils have completely softened. Stir often to prevent the dal from sticking to the base of the pan.

• Once the dal is cooked, add the lemon juice and beat with a balloon whisk to give it a creamy texture. If it feels too thick, add boiling water until the dal reaches your preferred consistency.

• Make the tarka in a separate small pan. Heat the ghee over a medium-high heat. Once the ghee is hot (not smoking), in quick succession add: cumin, black pepper, curry leaves (they will crackle so stand back), coriander stalks and lemon zest. After a few seconds, switch the heat off and immediately pour this over the hot daal. Stir well and serve garnished with chopped coriander leaves.

Butternut squash risotto  

A delicious seasonal bowl of comfort, perfect with a glass of Royal Flush, to compliment the creamy sauce.

Ingredients

• 30g/1oz unsalted butter
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 280g/10oz arborio rice
• 200ml/7fl oz dry white wine
• 1.1 litres/1 pint 16fl oz warm vegetable stock (made with stock cubes)
• 1 small (or ½ large) butternut squash, peeled, deseeded, cut into small cubes
• small handful fresh sage leaves, thinly sliced
• 100g/3½oz Parmesan (or a similar vegetarian hard cheese), finely grated
• 150g/5oz ball of mozzarella, drained, cut into small cubes
• 30g/1¼oz pine nuts, to serve
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

• Heat the butter and half the oil in a frying pan over a low-medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and fry for 8-10 minutes, until softened but not coloured. Add the rice and fry for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly until it is coated in the oil.

• Pour in the wine and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat slightly until the wine is just simmering, then cook until two-thirds of the wine has evaporated.

• Add a ladleful of the warm stock to the pan and return to a simmer, reducing the heat if the liquid starts to bubble too fiercely, to prevent the rice from cooking too quickly. When most of the stock has evaporated, add another ladleful. Cook the risotto in this way for 12-15 minutes, or until most of the stock has been absorbed by the rice and the rice is tender but has a slight bite.

• Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over a medium heat and fry and the butternut squash for 10-12 minutes, turning regularly, until tender and golden-brown all over.

• Stir the sage, butternut squash, Parmesan and mozzarella into the risotto. Turn the heat off, leave the pan on the heat, and let the cheese melt. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper.

• Meanwhile, heat a dry frying pan over a medium heat. Add the pine nuts and toast for 1-2 minutes, until just golden-brown. Stir them into the risotto and serve.