I know I’m not the only one craving pumpkin this time of year. You know how I know? Because Trader Joe’s is OUT of everything pumpkin! No pumpkin ravioli, no pumpkin spice coffee, and no pumpkin butter. But, they do have canned pumpkin, and the best pumpkin pie spice I’ve ever had (no funky fillers), so I’ve been making do.
No Pumpkin Ravioli? No problem.
Use regular cheese ravioli or tortellini and make a delicious Pumpkin Pasta Sauce. Here’s what I do.
Ingredients:
Butter
Sage
1/4th onion, chopped fine
1/2 can of pumpkin
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup parmesan
pumpkin pie spice to taste
salt and pepper to taste
*1 tsp brown sugar (optional, depending on whether you want your sauce sweet or savory)
1. Take 2 Tb butter, and brown it in a pan. Add a handful of fresh sage leaves, and fry until crisp. Drain the browned butter and sage leaves into a bowl and set aside.
2. In the same pan (and no cleaning it!), fry your chopped onion until it’s brown and caramelized.
3. Add 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice and stir it in with the onion, letting the spice cook until fragrant (that’s a trick I learned from Indian cooking).
4. Add pumpkin and milk, and stir in the parmesan until the mixture has a creamy consistency.
5. Now taste – does it need salt? pepper? a little brown sugar?
6. Toss in with cooked ravioli and top with crispy fried sage leaves and browned butter.
Pumpkin coffee is easy too – just take some of that pumpkin pie spice and sprinkle it in with your regular coffee when you brew it in the morning. This trick also works great with cinnamon, and chai masala.
One of my favorite healthy food blogs came up with a great recipe for pumpkin butter – so head on over there for that, and stay to read about the health benefits of pumpkin – AND the health benefits of pumpkin pie spice. Yum!
And – don’t forget to share a food photo with us this Wanderfood Wednesday. Last week was so much fun, I plan to keep it up!