Pumpkin Pasta and a Sweet potato hash!

I have been loving the crisp fall weather of this week! Definitely puts me in the mood for fall flavors!

Last night I came home from a great workout (ran to the gym, did Body Pump, then Zumba, and walked back home) and had a really yummy sweet potato hash. Sunday and Monday night we had a super super tasty pumpkin pasta. Loooove fall 🙂

Pumpkin Pasta

Ingredients

1 package pasta (we used pappardelle — even though it was like $8.50 at the grocery store, it was definitely worth it, it has such a great texture, shape, size, etc)
Olive oil
2 small shallots, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup vegetable broth
3/4 cup light cream
1 1/2 cup pumpkin purée
1/4 tsp plus a pinch of cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 1/4 cup pecorino romano cheese (we had an Italian blend from Trader Joe’s on hand so use what you’ve got if you want)

Directions

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a sauce pot. Sauté the shallot until tender and beginning to caramelize. Add garlic and good for an additional 1-2 minutes.
2. Add the remaining ingredients (except the pasta) and stir to combine. The sauce should simmer for about 10 minutes to allow it to thicken.
3. Prepare pasta per instructions. The pappardelle doesn’t take more than a few minutes so be almost ready to eat by the time you put it in.
4. We also tried our hands at frying sage leaves to put on top for a little flair and flavor — to do this, in a small skillet heat a small amount of oil (canola works great) and heat until rippling but not smoking, and add the sage leaves, frying until crisp.
Feeds 4-5

 

 

Sweet Potato Hash

This is a great dish for breakfast or dinner or both! A good paleo dish too. It could be vegetarian without the pancetta. I’ll looking forward to eating leftovers tonight!

Ingredients

3-4 tablespoons olive oil or butter for sauteeing
2 packages of diced pancetta (or bacon!)
2 small vidalia onion, diced small
2 small Macintosh apples, peeled and diced into small cubes
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2-3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into larger cubes
kosher salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
4-6 large eggs (one per person)

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Put a small amount of olive oil in the skillet and add the pancetta. Cook for about 3-4 minutes or until crisp. Once done, put onto a plate lined with a paper towel.

2. Next, put the onion in the skillet, adding a little salt and pepper. Sauté the onion for several minutes until translucent. Stir often to keep it cooking evenly.

3. Add the apple and cinnamon to the onion and stir to combine. Cook this for a few minutes – apple should begin to brown. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate.

4. Now add the sweet potatoes to the pan with a little more oil. Let then cook in a flat layer and begin to develop a crust. After a few minutes stir them to rearrange but maintaining a single flat layer. Add a little water occasionally to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Stir occasionally. Cool until tender to a fork, about 10-12 minutes.

5. Once the sweet potatoes are cooked, add the apple and onion mixture and the pancetta back into the pan with the sweet potatoes and stir to combine.

6. While the hash is rewarming, prepare a small skillet on medium to medium-high heat with a little oil. Fry one egg at a time (should take less than a minute per egg)

7. Serve hash with egg on top

Serves 4-6

(We went the lazy man’s route for ingredients last night)