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
Ok, so it’s the first real day of fall today, pouring rain, wind and the heat went on today. The pnw is so lovely this time of year, I wouldn’t change Seattle for the world!!! Anyway, I thought of this today!! Thinking my sister the picky eater was going to by home for dinner, I was bummed that I’d have to find something pumpkin-less to make for dinner. Only to find out she is NOT home tonight!! So I will be making this for my slightly picky grandma and my not picky mom (who is always thrilled to just have dinner made for her!!) I hope it is everything I am hoping for!!!
ok, Thank you! I can never find whole wheat pasta at the store maybe I’m not looking hard enough. Do you by chance have a good recipe on how to make homemade whole wheat ravioli?
Your recipes are awesome!! I have a quick question, where did you find whole wheat ravioli? Did you make it? If so what is the recipe? Thank you for this amazing website, it helps me look like I can cook when in reality I’m awful at it!!
I just found it at the store, in the section with the refrigerated fresh pastas!
I can’t wait until it’s acceptably cold enough (in Vegas weather) to make pumpkin dishes! I loved this sauce last year- I almost wanted to eat it straight through a straw…Try this with tortellini- sooo good!
I love pumpkin ANYTHING… especially those pumpkin chip muffins from the healthy eating post. This sounds so amazingly good! It would be perfect with pasta the night before a race. Hmmm…
I LOVE pumpkin sauce on pasta. I add garlic to mine. I also use it over enchiladas and burritos. It makes a great mole. I have IBS so I can’t have traditional tomato based sauces. I also make a GREAT asparagus sauce to use over pasta. My family likes it better than spagetti sauce. Blanche 1 pkg or bunch of asparagus and cut into pieces. Blend in the blender with l lg. roma tomato, olive oil, garlic, salt and about 1/4 c. parmasean cheese. You may add a little broth to get the right consistency. Transfer to a pan and heat. Fresh and extremely YUMMY!
We had this last night and it has been added to our list of great pasta recipes. Yet again, OBB (as I abbreviate it on my bi-monthly menus) has been successful! Thank you so much.
SO YUM! I could eat this with a spoon!!
I doubled the pumpkin to about a cup as well.
Thanks for another successful dinner!! You girls are amazing. I had everything I needed for this, including some pumpkin in the fridge that needed to be used … gotta LOVE those kind of recipes!
I love pumpkin (or butternut squash) pasta sauce! My recipe is similar, but has more pumpkin. (http://mirienscookingclass.blogspot.com/2009/10/pumpkin-pasta-sauce.html) My kids love it, and so does everyone who tries it–even those who think they don't like pumpkin. We like to put chopped toasted walnuts, almonds, or pepitas on top.
AMAZING!! This was fantastic and my very picky six year old agreed this was the best sauce ever (she is not a tomato sauce fan).
I found your blog about two months ago and have been trying several recipes. I keep sharing what we are having for dinner on FB and on my blog (and liking to the page on this blog of course!) and I think I may have helped a few more people find bliss by doing so (I have actually had two people try recipes from your site this week!) I will continue to let them in on the secrets of my new fabulous cooking skills 😉 Thanks for all you do for dinner tables across the country!