Friday, September 14, 2012

Fall Pasta

Fall is here! There is a crisp in the air, I am wearing a zip-up hoodie, my windows are open, and I've been burning my pumpkin scented candles. I am thoroughly enjoying my favorite season.

I made one of my staple fall dishes for dinner last night. I've never shared this recipe on my blog before so I figured I should now.

It's called Penne-Wise Pumpkin Pasta by Rachel Ray. Now, I know it sounds weird to use pumpkin in a pasta but it is so yummy, don't turn your nose up until you've tried it. An added benefit is that pumpkin is high in fiber, just 1 cup of canned pumpkin provides 7.1 g of fiber.

source: foodnetwork

*My side notes:
I omit the hot sauce, nutmeg, and cinnamon. I have tried using cinnamon and nutmeg in it before but it isn't savory enough for me with those two spices in it. Unlike the recipe, I just use dried sage (heavy handedly because I love sage) in the sauce mixture rather than fresh sage as a garnish at the end. In addition to the sauteed garlic, I add a little dried garlic powder into the sauce mixture as well because I can never have enough garlic. Also, I take some of the "wise" out of the recipe because I don't use whole-wheat pasta. The texture of whole-wheat pasta is odd to me, so I go with the regular stuff.  I also like to experiment with different shapes. Last night I used half cellentani and half penne pasta. I also used freshly grated asiago cheese (similar to parmesan) in and on the pasta. I can't leave recipes alone, I always cater to my liking. 

Cellentani Pasta

3 comments:

  1. because my whole family loves your chicken tetrazinni, i may just have to try this one. pumpkin and pasta does seem like an odd combo, but i'm not one to turn my nose up to any kind of food without at least trying it. thanks for the recipe!

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  2. I hope ya'll like it. The pumpkin flavor isn't really even detectable after all the seasons are added. It really just makes for a hearty creamy sauce. Let me know what ya'll think about it.

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  3. Hmmm, I'm with Mel on this. May have to try it at least once but I'll follow your directions and leave out some of the spices especially nutmeg (bleck)

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