F is for Fettucine: Pumpkin Fettucine (Jennifer)

Hello sweet readers!

Happy week-after-Thanksgiving! I hope you ate your fair share, and perhaps a little more of Thanksgiving stuffing, pie, and mashed potatoes! Thanksgiving is one of my very favorite holidays because there is no pressure to give material things...only to give thanks and be grateful, neither of which cost a dime but certainly mean so much to those on the receiving end of our gratitude. On this Thanksgiving, I'm grateful for many things, particularly my family, friends, and of course, my co-blog author-in-crime, Jessica. Without her, I wouldn't have hundreds of food photos stored on my computer, nor this lovely compilation in the form of a food diary right here on ye' ol blog. She's awesome!

A few weeks ago, the school that Jessica and I work for hosted a Harvest Potluck to celebrate Thanksgiving and you know, the harvest. The word "potluck" always seems to bring both joy and anxiety to my heart. I love cooking for others, including family, friends and co-workers, but at the same time, the idea of cooking for your peers is a little nervewracking. What if no one likes it? What if you catch people exchanging sideways glances at each other, as if to non-verbally say "Who brought this mystery dish?"

Luckily, when I brought a dish a few weeks back to our Thanksgiving Harvest Potluck, I didn't see many, if any, sideways glances about who brought the mystery macaroni. In fact, if anything, I heard positive feedback from those who wanted the recipe, and that's always a good sign. So, when Jessica gave me fettucine for my "F" recipe, I decided to re-create the Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese recipe I'd made for the potluck a few weeks ago. Hope you like it!


Pumpkin Mac and Cheese
slightly adapted from this recipe

Ingredients

• 16 oz small shell pasta
• 3 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp flour
• 4 cups milk
• 16 oz grated cheese blend (I used sharp cheddar cheese, as well as a handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and a handful of Gouda. I then sprinkled more Parmesan on top before baking)
• ¾ cup pumpkin puree (1/2 15-oz can)
• 1.5 tsp minced fresh rosemary (I used dried rosemary here, and then added 3-4 fresh sage leaves that I had finely minced)
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• ¼ tsp cayenne (I didn't have any cayenne, so I substituted 3-4 pinches of red pepper flakes)
• ½ cup panko breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cook pasta in boiling salted water. Drain and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
3. In a heavy saucepot over medium high heat, melt the butter and add the flour. Whisk together and cook for thirty seconds. Add 2 cups milk and minced rosemary and whisk until smooth. Add another cup of the milk (reserving one cup) and continue to whisk. Cook for four minutes while whisking. The mixture will get very thick!

4. Add 12 ounces of the grated mixed cheese (reserving about a handful of grated cheese) and stir well so that the cheese melts. Add the salt, pepper and cayenne followed by the additional cup of milk and the pumpkin puree.

Before cheese is added

After cheese is added and red pepper flakes, too.
5. Once everything is smooth, add the cooked macaroni and toss well. Pour into a 9″13″ casserole pan and top with the remaining grated cheese and the breadcrumbs.
6. Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

**To make the fettucine version, simply use fettucine noodles, and do not include breadcrumbs and baking at the end. Serve with roasted pancetta and a fried sage leaf for garnish.

  

Review:

This is a great recipe to make on a chilly winter or fall evening. It's comfort food at it's best! I preferred the macaroni and cheese version more than the fettucine version, but I think that's just because the mac and cheese recipe has that baked crunchy topping that I love so much. Enjoy!

Jessica's secret ingredient next week is ginger!!

Cheers!

Jennifer