Penne With Pumpkin Sauce

Pianolady's Note:

I had an abundance of pumpkins that I grew last year, so I tried this recipe from Gourmet Magazine and it was fantastic. The recipe calls for solid packed pumpkin, so feel free to use that if you don't have fresh pumpkin available. This recipe is scaled to serve 2, so adjust according to your needs. I hope you enjoy it!

• Total Time: 45 mins
• Prep Time: 35 mins
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 2

• ½ medium onion , chopped fine
• ½ medium red bell pepper , chopped fine
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ½ cup canned solid-pack pumpkin (I would use a little more, but this is the amount the recipe calls for...)
• 1 cup chicken broth
• ½ cup water
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• freshly grated nutmeg , to taste
• ½ lb penne pasta
• 3 tablespoons minced fresh parsley leaves
• parmesan cheese , freshly grated,as an accompaniment

Directions:

1. In a large skillet cook the onion, bell pepper and garlic in the butter over moderate heat, stirring, until the vegetables are softened.
2. Stir in the pumpkin, broth, water, cream, nutmeg, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Simmer the sauce, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
4. While the sauce is simmering, in a kettle of boiling salted water, boil the penne until it is al dente.
5. Reserve 1 cup of the cooking water and drain penne well.
6. Add the penne to the sauce and cook the mixture over moderate heat, stirring and thinning with reserved water if needed, for 1 to 20 minutes or until pasta is well coated.
7. Stir parsley into pasta and serve with parmesan cheese, as desired.
8. Enjoy!

Reviews

[Neohippie]

I also made this recipe because I grew pumpkin (well, actually winter squash) this year and had a bumper crop. The pumpkin puree thickened up the sauce quite nicely, but as written it turned out pretty bland (for my tastes) and needed some doctoring up. I added a lot of salt and pepper and parmesan cheese. It could also be improved with some herbs or red pepper flakes or even Italian sausage. Thanks for the idea to use pumpkin in a pasta sauce.

[annlouise]

I followed this so loosely I'm not sure I should put stars down. I glanced at a bunch of similar recipes, then just worked with what I had, using sight measurements mostly. This is really good! I used frozen chopped onion, no pepper, 1 garlic, bacon grease instead of butter for saute, buttercup squash instead of pumpkin, milk and less broth, and no parmesan for serving. Also, another recipe suggested a tsp of peanut butter, which was great. The funniest thing was when I asked my kids to guess the secret ingredient, and my 4 yr old said, "Cheese!" I think that's what made it look appealing to the kids, the color of Velveeta, lol.

[Cookery Enthusiast]

My husband thought I was crazy when I said we were having pasta with pumpkin sauce for dinner, but this turned out so tasty that he actually requests it! I've found that the onion and bell pepper aren't really necessary to a great-tasting sauce, so I usually leave it out. Otherwise, a perfect recipe!