Thursday, February 26, 2009

Thursday

Rotelle with spicy pumpkin sauce (recipe in the comments)
Salad with creamy tarragon dressing

Hot tea
Cupcakes
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Here's a recipe inspired by a recipe in a new cookbook of ours: One Dish Vegetarian Meals. As you have preobably guessed from other recipes, the one dish meal (with a vegetable side) is our stock in trade dinner, so I couldn't pass up this cookbook. This is the first recipe we've made from it and, with our annotations, I am VERY impressed. The pumpkin sauce is very unusual and VERY flavorful. We both love squash and pumpkin and haven't done much with either this fall/winter, so we're sneaking some in here towards the end. Both types of vegetables are a great way to have very fresh, vegetable-y food in the depth of winter! Anyway, this will definitely be in the rotation.

As to dessert, T and I were home together today and we made Rainbow Cupcakes again. It's the first time since that very first team cooking experience that we've made this recipe and they came out MUCH better :) T cooks with us all the time now and it's such a joy to share such a central part of our lives with him. I'm proud to say I think he loves it as much as we do!

Prep Notes
Difficulty: Easy
Chopping: Onion, pepper, garlic
Time: 40 minutes
Make ahead: You could easily make the sauce ahead and toss with freshly cooked pasta.

Reaction
J: "This is as pretty as it is tasty!"
M: "Great. Pumpkin. Gnarly. Brown."

1 comment:

J said...

Rotelle with Spicy Pumpkin Sauce – M & J (inspired by One Dish Vegetarian Meals)
Serves 3

1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and coarsely chopped
15 oz pumpkin puree
½ cup vegetable stock or water
1 T cornstarch
1 t salt
¼ t allspice
⅛ t cayenne, plus more to taste
½ cup milk (soy milk works fine)
1 lb rotelle or other chunky pasta
Chopped parsley to garnish (optional)
Balsamic to drizzle
Parmesan cheese

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onion, pepper, and garlic, cover and cook for 8 minutes, or until soft. Transfer to a food processor and puree. Add the pumpkin, stock, cornstarch, salt, allspice, and cayenne. Process until smooth. Transfer to a saucepan, stir in the milk and heat to a simmer. Stir constantly for 8 minutes or until thickened and heated through. Taste for seasonings.

Meanwhile cook the pasta, reserve about 1 cup cooking liquid, drain and toss with most of the sauce (I think this makes a little too much for 1 lb of pasta). Thin to desired consistency. Save any remaining water to mix with leftovers before storing as the sauce can get thick. Sprinkle with parsley, if desired. Serve with balsamic vinegar for drizzling and Parmesan. We like a good amount of both.