FOOD FUN: Halloween Pasta With Pumpkin Sauce
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Staying in for Halloween? Want a quick and easy Halloween dinner? Here’s an idea from our colleague Hannah Kaminsky of Bittersweet Blog. She made her own black pasta, and used canned pumpkin as the base for the sauce underneath. Her recipe is vegan, but we took an easier approach: We purchased the squid-ink pasta. Then, we created a sauce from canned pumpkin purée. The sauce can be used on pasta as well as with chicken, eggs, and grains, vegetables…even in a baked potato! 1. COOK the pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve 2 cups of the pasta water; then drain the pasta and set aside. 2. HEAT the olive oil in a pot over medium heat. Add the rosemary and fry, stirring, until the rosemary starts to brown (1 to 2 minutes). With a slotted spoon, drain the rosemary, leaving the oil in the pot; and drain the rosemary on paper towels. It will be used as a garnish, and it also imparts rosemary flavor to the oil. You can use this technique whenever you are making an oil-based recipe with fresh herbs. 3. ADD the pumpkin purée, garlic, half-and-half, Parmesan cheese, vinegar, optional red pepper flakes, and 1 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pot. Take care because the oil is hot and can spatter. Stir the sauce until heated through (2 to 3 minutes). 4. ADD the cooked pasta to the sauce and toss to coat. If the sauce is too thick, add some of the reserved pasta water. Season generously with salt. Serve the pasta sprinkled with fried rosemary and, if desired, more red-pepper flakes. |
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