The Perfect Fall Dinner
For the most part, I try to cook dinner every night and it is something I enjoy to do. This time of year especially, I love being in the kitchen and making whatever comes to my mind. I am constantly trying new recipes, and Pinterest is of course a main source of many of my ideas. This recipe is probably something that will either be loved, or hated because it features an ingredient that people either craze over or turn their heads to: Pumpkin! As I’ve mentioned before, pumpkin is a favorite ingredient of mine, both for savory and sweet dishes.
Last week, I decided to make some homemade fresh pasta because I’m sure we can all agree that it’s much better than boxed pastas. For this I normally would use a kitchen aid with the necessary attachments, but I wanted to try to totally do this by hand. (For the first time) These are the only ingredients and supplies needed:
- 2 3/4 cups All-purpose flour (more on hand for dusting and rolling)
- 4 Large eggs
- 1 Egg yolk
- 3 Teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 Teaspoon Salt
- A rolling pin
- A knife
- A fork
It was actually much more simple than I thought it would be, so pretty much here’s what I did:
- Place the flour on the table/countertop and form a well big enough to fit all of the eggs inside of it.
- Crack all of the eggs into the flour well, along with the olive oil and salt.
- Start whisking the eggs with a fork, but be careful not to break the walls of the well.
- Once whisked, start bringing in some of the flour very very slowly so that the eggs do not run all over the place.
- It should now be dry, but combined to the point where you can start to knead the dough, which you will do for 10 minutes.
- After the dough is soft and shaped into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and let rest for 1 hour in room temperature.
- Cut the ball into 4 pieces, and decide if you will be using it all because it can be frozen.
- Sprinkle some flour down and begin rolling out your dough until very thin, and long.
- Fold the sheet of dough like an accordion, and then cut into strips thin or thicker depending on the type of pasta you are going for.
- Let the noodles lay out and dry for at least 15 minutes, then cook like any other pasta!
For the pasta itself, that’s it! Trust me, it’s even easier than it sounds and SO worth it. At this point all we have to focus on is the sauce which is even easier. (Because it’s from Whole Foods, already in a jar) Sometimes, when trying something like this it may be better to try an already made sauce because an ingredient like pumpkin could be temperamental and I truly just couldn’t walk past it in the store. So for this I took Cucina Antica Tuscany Pumpkin Pasta Sauce and placed half of the jar into a pan to heat it up a little, and also added some heavy cream and parmesan cheese to make it a little more on the savory side, but both of these ingredients are obviously optional and are added based on how much or how little you want. After it was warm, I added the cooked noodles to the pan and just tossed them to make sure they were covered!
After the first bite, I knew this was going to be a new fall fav for me and everyone in my house. It was so rich and decadent in such a good way. Of course it’s not something I could eat every day, but it’s supposed to be! This is specifically something you can look forward to during fall, and make it a special dinner. I am so glad I finally tried this because it is for sure something I will be making in the future, and it’s so easy! I hope you guys take the leap and try this out, if you have had pumpkin pasta or try this, let me know your thoughts!
With love, Taylor
XOXO