Seems like this time of year is focused on festive. Decorating houses, parties, dressing-up as inanimate objects, candy hoarding, roasting giant birds—Fall, it’s here, and I love it.
For me, the best part of this season is being in the kitchen creating new recipes. My favorite? Unequivocally, pumpkin. Pie and bread are to be expected, but I like to use fresh and canned pumpkin in other flavorsome ways. These bright orange gourds don’t have to be turned into something sweet; they work really well with savory flavors, like garlic and sage. Though I make a roasted pumpkin soup every year, I wanted something a little easier and pasta came to mind. By adding fresh sage a package of truffle gnocchi, now you my new favorite fall meal. It’s easy and it’s pasta, it’s perfect.
Skip the patch, grab a can, and enjoy:
- 2, 15-oz cans of pumpkin (unseasoned, we will use 1.5 cans)
- 4 oz tomato paste
- 1, concentrated stock pack, chicken (like Knorr brand)
- ½ cup water (plus more as needed for consistency)
- ½ cup dry white wine (I used Chardonnay)
- 5T Parmesan-Romano cheese blend, shredded
- 2T butter, unsalted
- ½ sweet white onion
- ½ cup carrot (about ½ cup baby carrots)
- 2 stalks celery
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp fresh sage, finely chopped (additional leaves for garnish)
- ½ tsp dried thyme
- ½ tsp black pepper
- sea salt to taste
- dash ground allspice
- 1 lb package of truffle variety of gnocchi (or regular cheese filled)
- * ⅛ tsp truffle oil if using regular flavor gnocchi
- In a food processor, chop onion, carrot, celery and garlic to a fine consistency (can hand chop as well).
- In a preheated, enameled cast iron pot, melt the 2T butter and sauté the chopped mix of onion, carrot, garlic, celery and cook until tender ~10 mins.
- To the pot add ¼ cup white wine & continue to sauté until carrots are tender (~5 more mins).
- Add 1.5 cans of the canned pumpkin, and ~4oz of the tomato paste, and stock flavor pack, combining well.
- Also add sage, dried thyme, allspice and salt and pepper (I gradually add S&P to taste).
- Simmer sauce on low heat, and stir in rest of wine, and ½ cup water slowly, stirring until we absorbed & flavors intensify (for ~ 15 minutes).
- Optional, use a hand-held immersion blender to smooth out any chunks as desired!
- Add parmesan cheese blend, and additional water as needed for desired sauce consistency.
- While sauce simmers on low, in anther pot boil salted water & bring gnocchi to a boil per package directions (usually ~5 mins).
- *Drain gnocchi & toss warm in a bowl with ⅛ tsp of truffle oil (if you cannot find prepared truffle gnocchi).
- Serve pumpkin sauce over truffled gnocchi with a garnish of freshly chopped sage and sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Sauce freezes and doubles well. Also great over other pastas and in a Fall lasagna. For serving leftovers, I tend to add additional broth or water to thin thickened sauce.
Now that wasn’t too bad! I opted to run my handy-dandy immersion blender through the sauce, giving it a silkier texture, but it is great either way. The canned pumpkin saves us a lot of time versus carving-up the fresh sugar variety (though there is a time and place for those). Prepared gnocchi are almost too easy to make, and if the truffle version are nonexistent in your store, I strongly recommend getting a bottle of truffle oil to use. Infused truffle oil is indulgent and one of my favorite kitchen ingredients. It’s as simple as tossing cooked pasta with a few drops, and you’ve just raised your dinner game up a notch. The oil is available in most specialty stores, and can also be ordered from a manufacturer directly. Since a little goes a long way, I picked up a tiny bottle of da rosario’s Organic White Truffle Oil at my local WeOlive. The white variety has a milder flavor than the black, so I prefer it. I love how its rich flavor melds with the creamy pumpkin and parmesan. We’re Pairing ours with the warm spice of a Blue Moon Harvest Pumpkin Ale. Is it time to eat yet?
The season is just beginning as I prepare for my annual pumpkin overdose. I hope you’ll join me.
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