Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Gluten Free Angel Hair Pasta with Roasted Garlic & Mushroom Pumpkin Sauce

I could only think of pumpkin on Halloween night which turned out to work in my favor. I had seen a recipe for a pumpkin lasagna that sounded fantastic so I went to the drawing board with what I had in my pantry. The end result was a creamy, well-balanced pumpkin sauce accented with roasted garlic and flecked with roasted mushrooms. I’ll be making this one over and over this fall.

Ingredients:
1 pint crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 head of garlic, still in paper
8 leaves of fresh sage, diced
3 strips of thick cut bacon, diced into bit sized pieces
1 can pumpkin puree or 1 cup fresh puree
1 cup milk
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese and more for topping
1 package brown rice angel hair pasta
4 stems chives, diced for topping

Preperation:
Set oven to 350°. Arrange sliced mushrooms on a baking sheet and toss in 1 tbsp olive oil with 2/3′s of the chopped sage, salt and pepper. Chop the top off of the garlic head, place on roasting pan and then top with about 1 tbsp olive oil. Roast for about 25-30 minutes or until garlic is soft to the touch. Stir mushrooms occasionally.
Meanwhile, pan fry the bacon in a large skillet. Once crisp, transfer to a paper towel lined plate to drain. Leave the drippings and add the pumpkin to the skillet over low heat. Use a wooden spoon to stir and pick up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Next add in the roasted mushrooms, bacon, remaining sage, milk and chicken stock. Stir to combine. Dice up 1-2 cloves of the roasted garlic and add to sauce.
Cook the brown rice pasta to just under al dente. Drain and add directly to skillet with sauce. Add the parmesan cheese and use tongs to combine the pasta and sauce over low heat. Plate in serving bowls, sprinkle with a little extra cheese and the diced chives. Enjoy!