chicken pasta with creamy pumpkin sauce

by tijuana, 10/09/2013

i have to admit, i have always felt that i am more of a sweet potato lover and have been most of my life. my mom always made sweet potato recipes when i was young that our family fell in love with, like her candied yams recipe. so with fall here and my adult palette, i decided to branch out and experiment with some pumpkin recipes. boy, have i been missing out! i recently made some baked pumpkin donuts with coffee icing and pumpkin pecan blondies with spiced whipped cream for my husband's guys night and we were eyeballing each donut and blondie! it was a fight to the finish. 🙂 i wanted to try taking my experiment a step further. there are numerous sweet pumpkin recipes, but not many savory. so, i decided to try a pumpkin sauce. i could see the look on my husbands face as i started adding the pumpkin puree to the cream sauce, and he said, "baby, that is a LOT of pumpkin!" but it worked and we loved it. i served the pumpkin pasta with some garlic knots and all the plates were clean. there is a saying that you can only like either pumpkin or sweet potato, not both! well, not in my case. i have a new love.

total Time: 50 minutes
prep time: 20 minutes
cook time: 30 minutes
yield: 6 servings

ingredients:

1 pound, mezze penne pasta - (or your favorite pasta)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil -
3 raw chicken breasts - diced
1/2 onion - chopped
2 garlic cloves - minced
3 tablespoons butter -
3 tablespoons flour -
1 cup milk -
3/4 cup chicken stock -
1/2 cup pumpkin puree - not pumpkin pie filling
1/2 cup parmesan cheese - plus some for the garnish
1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage -
1 roma tomato - diced

instructions:

bring a large pot of water to a boil. salt the water and add the pasta. cook according to the package instructions. drain and set aside.

preheat a large skillet over high heat. once hot add the vegetable oil and the chicken. allow the chicken to sear, by not tossing the chicken for a few minutes. season the chicken with salt/pepper to taste. toss the chicken until cooked through.
add in the garlic and onion. continue to saute for a few minutes until onion is tender.
meanwhile, add the butter to a medium sized saucepan. once the butter has melted, add in the flour. whisk the butter and flour together until combined. continue to cook the flour butter mixture for a few minutes to allow the flour taste to cook off. gradually whisk in the milk and chicken stock. bring a boil. reduce to a simmer and allow to thicken. whisk in the pumpkin until combined. stir in the parmesan cheese and rubbed sage. taste the sauce, and season with salt/pepper accordingly.
pour the pumpkin sauce into the chicken mixture. stir until combined, scraping the bits off the bottom of the pan. stir in the reserved pasta and tomato. serve hot and garnish with parmesan cheese.