Creamy Pumpkin Pasta with Hazelnut + Focaccia Breadcrumbs

Sunday date-night is one of my favorite times. When it’s cooking a good dinner + indulging a fun cocktail, I feel like I’m having a 10/10 Sunday night at home. And this weekend I knew the weekend the high point of my Sunday was going to be blood orange whiskey cocktails (they were delicious!) and diving into a big bowl of pasta. Specifically this one - Creamy Pumpkin Pasta with Hazelnut + Focaccia Breadcrumbs. Talk about a 10/10 Winter pasta. This has everything you could want from a creamy, cheesy alfredo, but it’s so much better. It’s got color, spice, seasonal flavor, and a fun crunchy breadcrumb topping that has changed the way I want to garnish all pastas going forward. The pumpkin sauce is flavorful + rich, and perfectly coats all the noodles. We added some cinnamon + honey + a lot of calabrian chilis (because that’s so us) and it was a perfect Sunday night meal to cap off the weekend with.

Squash sauces are the new alfredo

Seriously - already is out and squash sauce is in. So much more flavor, still creamy + cheesy, and actually has a sliver of nutritional value. Plus I just feel like an alredo sauce can be so blah. It tastes buttery + rich, and that’s about it. So boing, and if I’m diving into the world of pasta, boring is not the result I’m looking for. I want a sauce so good I am scraping every last bit of it off my plate + sopping up extra with a piece of bread. This pumpkin sauce delivers. It’s like pumpkin alredo!

We’ve done so many variations of a butternut squash sauce for pasta, and have always loved it. Trying the same method with pumpkin - heavenly! We amped it up with the usual suspect - shallots, cream, a little garlic - and added some fresh new ingredients that made it such a fun Winter meal. Cinnamon, honey, + mascarpone we’re the surprise ingredients to play into pumpkin component that gave it such a good seasonal flavor. Seriously loved it!

Focaccia crunch on top

Ok so breadcrumbs on top of pasta - it’s a revelation. And in my case it was the perfect use for the final pieces of my homemade focaccia (though any bread could work, and you don’t need much). Toast it, crumble it, and then sauté it in olive oil for the perfect crunchy texture.

The breadcrumbs on top of this pasta is so good because it’s a medley of delicious things - good Italian bread, rosemary, and hazelnuts. They all get crisped up in the same pan + mixed together to be this salty, crispy, herby component to cap off the pasta.

Got good pasta?

My last trip to Portland involved an impromptu trip to gourmet grocer (thanks to a desperate need for a potty break), and if I’m at a gourmet grocer, I’m not going home empty handed. So what am I on the hunt for? Pasta! Specifically the good shit we’re not going to find at the ordinary grocery store. I’m looking for labels I’ve never seen before display not one single English word, and straight from Italy. It’s how I roll at these stores, and it’s why I always have a fun bag of pasta hidden in my pantry pretty much all the time. This trip, got my hands on some bucatini, and it was the perfect noodle to soak of the pumpkin sauce.

The thing I always remember cooking pasta - you’ve got to give your pasta enough time to soak up all sauce. A quick “toss in the sauce” ain’t ever going to cut it! I always toss in my cooked noodles, let it cook at a simmer with the sauce for about 3 minutes, then turn the temp to low, cover the dish, and let the pasta do its thing for about 10 minutes. The noodles are always perfectly flavorful, and the extra time for the spices + flavors in the sauce to get to know each other is never a bad thing.

A perfect dinner to end the weekend with, and I had my eye on those leftovers in the fridge for a “fun lunch” when the opportunity arose.

For the breadcrumb topping

• 1 large piece of focaccia or a ciabatta roll (2 slices of sourdough or other white bread would work), toasted

• 1/2 c. hazelnuts, whole

• 2-3 tbsp EVOO

• 2 rosemary sprigs

• salt + pepper

For the pasta

• 1 package of bucatini

• 4 tbsp butter

• 1 shallot, minced

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1/2 c. heavy cream

• 1 c. pumpkin puree

• 1 tbsp honey

• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

• 1 heaping tsp red pepper flakes (we love Calabrian chili flakes)

• 1/4 c. mascarpone

• 1/4 c. parmesan, plus more for garnish

• salt + pepper

Start by making the breadcrumbs. Add the toasted bread to a food processor, pulsing until it has broken up into chunks slightly larger than pea size. Add in the hazelnuts + pulse a couple more times. Place a skillet over medium heat + add in the EVOO. When it’s hot, add in the rosemary sprigs and fry for 1-2 minutes, just long enough to toast the rosemary. Remove the sprigs from the skillet + place on a paper towel lined plate. Add in the bread + focaccia mixture. Add in a pinch of salt + pepper. Stir regularly + toast until the bread is golden brown + nuts are toasted. Place the mixture on the same plate as the rosemary and set aside.

Move to making the pasta. Place a large pot of salted water over medium heat, and place a fresh skillet over medium heat. To the skillet, add the butter. When it has melted, add in the shallots + garlic. Stir regularly, cooking for just 2 minutes. Add in the heavy cream + bring the mixture to a simmer. Stir in the pumpkin, honey, and cinnamon, letting the mixture continue to simmer for 2 minutes. Add in the red pepper flakes and a small pinch of salt + pepper. Add in the broth, stir in, and continue to simmer uncovered for five minutes. Stir in the mascarpone + parmesan. When the cheeses have melted in, reduce the heat to low. Cover the sauce + let it continue to cook.

Move to making the pasta. Turn the heat on the water up to high. Once boiling, add in the pasta + cook to al dente. Once that’s done, add 1/4 cup of the pasta water to the pumpkin sauce. Bring the sauce back up to a simmer. Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce, tossing the noodles until they’re coated in the sauce. Reduce the heat to low, cover, and the let pasta continue to cook for 10 minutes.

While the pasta finishes cooking, remove the fried rosemary leaves from the stem + mix with the breadcrumbs.

Plate the pasta by twirling it up + transferring to warm bowls. Garnish with a bit of parmesan + breadcrumbs. Add a small pinch of extra red peppers. Serve + enjoy.