Orecchiette with pumpkin and vodka sauce and turnips

Another personal experiment. While I was making the sauce I realized I had no more white wine, which I would have liked to use. There was a bottle of vodka in my kitchen, which I use for making liqueurs, not for drinking. So I thought "Why not?". And that is how it went really. The vodka doesn't give a big flavour to the dish but the pumpkin cooks really well in it and it doesn't taste bad at all. Finally, I had some small turnips in the fridge so I roasted them and used to decorate the whole dish.

Ingredients: 350gr orecchiette, 400gr pumpkin, 1 glass of vodka, 1 glass of water, 1 medium onion, 1/2 tsp red dried chilli peppers, 200gr small turnips, 1 Tbsp extravirgin olive oil

Fry the onion with a bit of oil for a few minutes until it softs. Add the flesh of the pumpkin cut into cubes. Mix well then add the vodka and the water. Cook for 20 minutes or until the pumpkin is soft and well cooked. Add the dried chilly and mash the pumpkin as you would do with potatoes. Clean the turnips, put them on a baking dish, dress with a bit of oil and salt and cook in hot oven (240 C - 450 F - 8 G) for about 30 minutes.
Cook the pasta in salted water. Drain it leaving just a little water in the pan. Pour it into the saucepan where the pumpkin is and toss it until all the ingredients are mixed well. Sprinkle with dried hot chilli pepper and guarnish with roasted turnips.