I’ve been cooking pumpkin and squash like crazy! Then I’ve been using it to make cookies or cheesecake or pancakes or I just throw it in freezer bags to use later. Last week though I tried making a sauce with pumpkin, garlic and basil and I was really pleased with how it turned out!
As with all of my recipes, there are few ingredients and they’re very easy to put together. Here’s the full dinner idea: I served this pasta with a simple salad of leaf lettuce, grape tomatoes and grated Parmesan dressed with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette dressing and hot fresh garlic bread. And since I’m not worried about too much pumpkin, I served pumpkin cheesecake for dessert!
Oh, I’ll throw that recipe in too since it’s time for pie!
But first the pasta…
All you need to get started is a 12 oz. bag of pasta. I use brown rice pasta, but any would work.
While it is cooking, according to the instructions on the bag, cook 4 medium sized minced cloves of garlic in 1-2 tablespoons of butter in a skillet.
To the garlic and butter add 1 cup of cream, 1/2 cup of cooked, mashed pumpkin, about 16 fresh minced basil leaves, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper and a 1/4-1/2 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Stir and heat through. Then pour over the hot, drained pasta. Garnish with more basil, grape or cherry tomatoes and more cheese.
This dish is so tasty! I hope trying it will lead to more of your own creative recipes. You could use any squash in place of the pumpkin, banana or butternut would be most similar, or you could vary the herbs and spices and varieties of pasta. Hopefully you can grow some herbs in a sunny window and just clip them with your kitchen shears when you need them. It’s certainly much less expensive that way and I love cutting into my basil plant and smelling that heavenly scent!
Ok, now the cheesecake!
Pumpkin Cheesecake
from Lioness at the Door
Beat together:
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup buttermilk
3 eggs
1 1/2 cups cooked, mashed pumpkin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
You could make a nut crust or graham cracker crust for this, but so far I’ve just greased the pie dish with butter or coconut oil and cooked the filling without a crust. If you opt to use the chocolate chips, they sink to the bottom and turn into a crust of sorts. Bake at 350 for 60 minutes. Cool and then refrigerate for several hours at least, overnight is best. We served this with freshly whipped cream and a little chocolate sauce made of agave, cocoa and vanilla. I would guess that a sprinkle of nutmeg would be yummy on the cream and or a little orange zest would be nice too!
Happy, happy Thanksgiving to you and yours! May you have a healthy, happy celebration with your loved ones.
Much love,
Jacque