Pumpkin Pasta

Pasta is the ultimate comfort food. We went the extra mile with this recipe and used fresh homemade pasta, but you could obviously just use dried pasta and it would still be delicious. We sauteed some spinach and mushrooms to add, and you could also throw some chicken in if you wish. This is such a flexible recipe with so many possible variations! And, creamy and delicious without being chock-full of cream - the pumpkin makes such a fast and easy creamy sauce.

Pumpkin Pasta

servings: 6
time: 1 hr

Ingredients:
Sauce:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 onion, minced
• 2 Tbsp minced garlic
• 15 oz pureed pumpkin
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 2 Tbsp chipotle sriracha sauce
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

Pasta:

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/2 Tbsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 Tbsp water

Delicious add-ins:

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 8 oz sliced mushrooms
• 8 oz frozen, chopped spinach, thawed

Directions:

Pasta:

1. Mix flour and salt.
2. Add eggs, oil, and 1 Tbsp water.
3. Mix slowly, adding more water as needed until dough forms a ball.
4. Knead for 3 minutes, until dough is smooth and elastic.
5. Cover with a towel and let rest for 30 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt the water generously.
7. Divide dough into four parts.
8. Roll each section out on a lightly floured surface until it will fit through the thickest setting on your pasta maker.
9. Lightly flour the dough and feed it through the pasta maker on the thickest setting.
10. Continue feeding the strips of dough through the pasta maker, gradually putting them through thinner settings until they are the desired thickness.
11. Let rolled dough rest, uncovered, for 10 minutes.
12. Lightly flour the dough again, then feed it through the cutting portion of your pasta maker. We used the linguine size for this recipe.
13. Cook your linguine for 3 minutes and drain. Toss lightly with oil to keep it from sticking, and set aside.

Veggies:

1. While your dough is resting, cook your mushrooms and spinach in a saute pan with some oil. We threw them in together and cooked them for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. They can then be set aside until they are mixed with the sauce later.

Sauce:

1. Saute your onion in the olive oil until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add garlic and cook another minute.
3. Add pumpkin, broth, and sriracha. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer and cook until somewhat thickened, about 10 minutes.
4. Add cream and cheese and cook another two minutes.
5. Add mushroom, spinach, and pasta to sauce and cook another 2 minutes to combine the flavors.
6. Serve and garnish with additional parmesan cheese.

This pasta is rolled to the desired thickness and is resting before being cut. Letting it sit for a few minutes helps prevent it sticking together during the cutting process. Lightly flour it again before feeding it through your pasta maker to cut it.

If your pasta has been floured, the cut pasta comes out cleanly. 

This pasta is ready to be cooked! 

Veggies are cooked and ready to go 

First batch of pasta is done - it cooks quickly, just 3 minutes. You can toss the cooked pasta with a little bit of oil to keep it from sticking together. 

Ready to eat! 

Yum