I have to admit something – I’m not a huge lover of pumpkin. Typically the only thing where I like pumpkin flavor is in a pumpkin spice latte or a pumpkin cake roll. I’ll happily pass by pumpkin pie in favor of pecan any day. However, I really wanted to try my hand at making a good pumpkin pasta sauce. It sounded so seasonal and I thought I might actually like it.
So earlier this week, when I was finally able to find some canned pumpkin, I decided to go for it. My sister was visiting for a few days, getting her fill of baby snuggles and helping me out around the house, and we both thought it sounded like a great idea for dinner. Plus, I had a package of cheese ravioli in the freezer that we thought would make a perfect base for the sauce.
I winged the entire recipe, gauging ingredients based purely on what I thought would go well together and doing a little tweaking to my original plan here and there as it cooked. The final result was awesome! Seriously, I could have eaten the sauce with a spoon and skipped the pasta all together. In fact, my sister and I both thought that if I added some more milk, the sauce would have made a great soup as well.
Pumpkin Pasta Sauce
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 medium-sized shallot, minced (You can use 1/2 a small onion in place of the shallot if you want. However, the shallot does provide a nice mild flavor.)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1 1/4 tsp salt, more or less to taste
- 1/2 tsp black pepper, more or less to taste
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup diced parsley
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallot and garlic; cook for 2-3 minutes, until shallots are tender.
- Reduce heat to low and stir in the pumpkin puree. Cook for 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock, milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Stir to combine and simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper, if needed. Stir in the parsley. Serve over pasta.
Notes
This made a great entree over cheese ravioli for the adults and cheese tortelleni for the kids. It was definitely enjoyed by everyone. I think it would also make a great dish served over plain pasta. Or like I said earlier, thin it a bit with some milk for a yummy soup. That would be a great way to repurpose the leftovers – if you have any!