Pumpkin alfredo sauce, where have you been all of my life?


I came up with this quick and simple dish after flipping through the latest issue of Food Network Magazine. For a couple of weeks, I’d routinely flip back to the same page, drooling over a photo of tortellini bathed in this dreamy pumpkin sauce. The original recipe asked to sautée pumpkin with nutmeg, but since I’m really not a nutmeg kind of gal, I decided to omit that step. I then reassessed the rest of the recipe, and well, I pretty well stripped it down to the basics (pumpkin puree and cream) and then added my own little twist.

My version comes together when delicious pumpkin puree meets with heavy cream, gets sprinkled with a hint of marinated garlic and finished off with a generous sprinkling of parmigiano reggiano cheese. Toss it with pasta and top it all off with sea salt and pepper, and you’ve got a meal. This sauce is so velvety that it tastes sinful, yet it’s surprisingly light thanks to the magic that is pumpkin puree.
(Also, what better way to get a picky eater to eat his or her veggies?!)