Apparently it’s carb week! Don’t be scared by that, or by the fact that this carb involves pumpkin 🙂
This week we got hooked up with some pasta products to test out. Along with the food there were a few recipes and one of them was a ravioli with pumpkin alfredo. I didn’t have a lot of the ingredients (including the container of alfredo they sent because I already ate it! Kind of a main ingredient…) but the idea of a pumpkin cream sauce intrigued me so I took the basic idea and went with it. I used my guiltless alfredo sauce, and it worked perfectly. If the idea of mixing pumpkin into a creamy sauce freaks you out, don’t worry- it’s a really mild flavor, but just enough to be interesting and give it a great color. If you’re a big pumpkin fan like I am, you could add a little more. I loved this, and so did my husband and my kids.I paired it with whole wheat 4-cheese ravioli. I thought the whole wheat was a perfect harvest-y thing to go with such a harvest-y dish.
Pasta with Pumpkin Alfredo
1 Package Fresh Pasta
1/2 batch Guiltless Alfredo Sauce
(or 10oz prepared Alfredo)
1/2 T real butter
1/4 C Finely minced onion
1/2 C canned pumpkin (try more if you love pumpkin, this is really mild)
2 T Chicken broth (vegetarians substitute milk or veg. broth)
1T chopped fresh sage (1t dried leaves)
1/2 T fresh thyme (1/2 t dried leaves)
Follow instructions on pasta to cook. In a separate sauce pan melt butter on medium heat. When melted, add onion. Make sure your onion is really finely diced. Since you have a nice smooth sauce, you don’t want big chunks of onion, you just want little bits.
Saute until soft. Since they’re small it should only take a couple of minutes. Add chicken broth and herbs. (I used fresh herbs, but I’m sure dry is great too, just go for leaves as opposed to ground spices so not to muddy the color)
Use a spatula to deglaze the pan a bit and get any cooked bits of onion off the bottom. Add pumpkin and whisk to combine. Add alfredo sauce, stir to combine, and cook until heated through. Depending on the alfredo you use you may need to adjust salt and pepper. Mine didn’t need anything added.
Serve on top of prepared pasta and top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a sprinkling of extra herbs. Pair it with a salad and breadsticks for a great vegetarian meal. YUM!
I want to know how you feel about pumpkin pasta! Sound good? Sound weird? And if you’ve never commented before, introduce yourself so we can get to know ya! We love all you guys!
Questions & Reviews
I made this for a girls night, and everyone loved it. Thanks for all the great recipes! I love your cookbook!
I made this – but instead of alfredo, i added in 3 wedges of laughing cow cheese, parmesan, garlic powder and milk to the pumpkin mix. MIxed it together and voila. Fake alfredo. I thought the sauce was good.
I actually got on your website to find a pumpkin-chocolate chip cookie recipe since I have leftover canned pumpkin from a Halloween dessert I made. I didn’t find a cookie recipe…BUT…I found this one. I was a little unsure at first (not a major pumpkin fan) but I love alfredo sauce so I figured I should try this recipe instead of throwing the pumpkin leftovers out. I was very pleasantly surprised…it was yummy! I only had dried thyme and no sage but it was still good. It was fun to try something new. Thanks!
I loved this the first time I made it, but then I added roasted red peppers the second time, and it was even better! Thanks for the recipe.
I was intrigued by this since I first saw it, and finally made it tonight. A huge hit! My husband said we can start having pasta more often if it’s going to be like this. I served it over penne (half regular, half whole wheat), because that’s what we had. Everyone in the family loved it. The kids had no clue it had pumpkin in it, it just looks and tastes like cheese. Oh, and we didn’t have fresh sage and thyme, only dried thyme, no sage, and it was still great.
My husband and I found this in your cookbook yesterday and made it- AMAZING! It tastes like fall! We are planning on making it again tomorrow night 🙂 I’ve never been so happy for leftover ingredients!