Roast the pumpkin. Heat the oven to 200°C / 180°C fan. Toss the pumpkin with the olive oil and a pinch of salt, spread on a tray and roast for 30–35 minutes until tender and caramelised at the edges. Roasting rather than boiling keeps the flesh dry, which means less flour later.

Dry the purée. Mash the hot pumpkin until smooth, then spread it over the tray and return to the oven for 5 minutes to drive off steam. Cool completely. You want about 300g of thick purée.

Make the dough. Mix the cooled purée with the ricotta, Parmesan, egg yolk, salt and nutmeg. Add the flour 50g at a time, folding gently, until you have a soft dough that just holds together. Stop as soon as it stops sticking to your hand; overworking makes the gnocchi dense.

Shape. Divide the dough into four, roll each piece into a 2cm rope on a floured surface and cut into 2cm pillows. Roll each one down the back of a fork if you want the ridges. Lay them on a floured tray, spaced apart.

Cook. Bring a wide pan of well-salted water to a gentle simmer, not a rolling boil. Cook the gnocchi in batches; they are ready about 30 seconds after they float, roughly 2 minutes. Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain.

Brown the butter. Melt the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. It will foam, then quieten, then the milk solids will turn golden and smell of hazelnuts, about 4 minutes. Add the sage leaves and fry for 30 seconds until crisp, then lift them out onto kitchen paper.

Finish. Turn the heat up, add the gnocchi to the brown butter in a single layer and leave them undisturbed for 2 minutes to take on colour, then toss once and cook 1 minute more.

Serve. Spoon onto warm plates, pour over the brown butter from the pan, and top with the crisp sage, pine nuts, Parmesan shavings and plenty of black pepper. Eat immediately, while the edges are still crisp.