Pasta with Pumpkin Sauce

Have you ever wanted a bowl of pasta but were quite tired of the same old tomato or marinara sauce on pasta? Or if you're a little more old school and keep it clean with just garlic and olive oil, haven't you wished you could bring a new, fresh flavor into your bowl of pasta? I felt exactly that way last week, and I wanted a new sauce quickly (in about the time it took the pasta to cook).

I had a can of pumpkin around, and if you've been reading this blog from the beginning you might have gotten the hint that I am a culinary sucker for pumpkin. It's really just so versatile in how you can use it in so many dishes, either as a star or as part of the supporting cast. Faigy and I (if you haven't noticed, my wife and I are co-bloggers now; I lucked out with someone just as (if not more so) culinarily talented and inclined as myself) have been toying with the idea of making pumpkin gnocchi for quite some time now. Unfortunately it was a rather lazy Sunday so that wasn't happening. But we could do the next best thing - have pasta with some sort of pumpkin sauce.

I wanted to really highlight the savory notes of pumpkin this time, which stands in contrast to a lot of other pumpkin recipes I'm a fan of. I decided to use dairy as the platform upon which to build these flavors - first and foremost starting with frying (not just sautéeing) onions in butter. Some milk thins out the thicker canned pumpkin and gives the sauce some creaminess, but what really steps up the flavor is fresh-grated Parmesan cheese. It's sometimes hard to find blocks of Parmesan kosher, so in a pinch the bottled pre-grated Miller's stuff will do, but it's hard to beat the fresh stuff. The cheese brings out some of the nuttiness dormant in the butter and pumpkin, and is enhanced if you add the toasted crushed walnuts.

The last really crucial thing to this recipe is the finishing touch: extra virgin olive oil. Now, I am often one to just skip garnishes and like accoutrements to recipes I see; you are free to do so with the others in this recipe, but I warn you, DO NOT SKIP THIS. The fruitiness of the olive oil adds a really powerful contrasting accent to the savory sauce we've built up and teases out some of the fruitiness the pumpkin is hiding. Since it's raw, definitely use the extra virgin stuff (we just used generic Fairway brand and it was fantastic).

You can in fact make this entire recipe pareve/dairy-free (as indicated) but be aware that if at all possible, you should re-make it in its dairy form another time to compare and contrast.

A fresh autumn take on pasta sauce

Mango Carrot Chutney

A few weeks ago, a friend and I had a fun experimental cooking day, involving meat pies featuring delicious chile peppers (Serrano and yes, Habanero). Anyway, I was left with some of the leftover ingredients, including carrots and mango. Later in the week, I had a craving for fish - and yes, I admit, I did not make my own but rather just picked up a piece of fried flounder from Supersol (shame on me).

I stared down the store-bought, ready-made fish with some degree of embarrassment, and so I decided I would repent for my sin by creating some sort of sauce or topping for the fish (it looked pretty dry and like it could use some help in the flavor department). Luckily, I had those leftover mango and carrots, so I decided to do a Carribean-themed meal for myself (previous attempts with this theme were wildly successful; unfortunately I did not record my recipe for Jamaican Chicken Skewers which involved mangoes, onions and chicken in a delicious coconut jerk sauce. I will eventually try to recreate it though...).

I aimed for a pretty savory chutney, though I found I did need to add some brown sugar to really bring out the mango flavor. The carrots also provide a textural contrast to the mangos (which are nearly mushy by the time it's done) since they still have a little bite to them after4 minutes. If you want softer carrots, precook them (in the microwave or boiling them) for an extra minute or two.

I ate this on top of fish, but it would also be quite delicious on top of chicken, rice, couscous, or even just on the side by itself!

Quick and easy mango carrot chutney - no stove required!

This chutney was great on top of fish - but goes well on chicken, rice & couscous too!

Mango Carrot Chutney

1 mango, diced
1-2 big carrots, diced
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger (fresh if possible)
2 tsp brown sugar
pinch of salt

1. Combine ingredients in a microwaveable bowl and mix well.

2. Cover with plastic wrap. Microwave for 2 minutes, mix again, then microwave another 2 minutes until carrots are mostly cooked through. Serve on top of fish or chicken.

3-4 servings