In case you haven’t noticed, from the holiday decor popping up at Costco to the Thanksgiving foods at Trader Joe’s, it’s officially fall. That means that we’ve been diving head first into our favorite comfort food recipes. And don’t get us wrong, we love those cozy homestyle classics like shepherd’s pie, baked ziti, and pot roast as much as anyone, but we’ve been craving new recipes more than ever this year. Maybe it’s because we were stuck inside for two winters making the same old recipes over and over again. But Rachael Ray seems to know where we’re coming from. She’s still sharing cozy fall comfort foods, but with unique twists that will help shake things up if you’re stuck in a recipe rut.
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The latest recipe to catch our eye? Rachael Ray’s pumpkin carbonara. She shared the recipe on Instagram, but it seems just like the type of recipes that fill her most recent cookbook, This Must Be the Place: Dispatches & Food from the Home Front.
This Must Be the Place: Dispatches & Food from the Home Front
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There are a couple of things you’ll need to make the recipe. For starters, Ray uses a specialty pasta, Saffron Malloreddus (Sardinian gnocchi) from Sfoglini
. It’s a gourmet pasta flavored and colored with saffron, and it’s definitely worth picking up if it’s in your budget — keep a box or two in the pantry for when you want to elevate your usual weeknight pasta dinner.
Sfoglini Organic Saffron Malloreddus Pasta 4-Pack
$25.99
on Amazon.com
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Ray also uses a pinch of saffron
in the sauce, which both enhances the golden color of the pumpkin, and adds a bit more of that signature saffron flavor.
Zaran Saffron
$14.95
on Amazon.com
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Though Ray didn’t share her full method for making this pasta, we can guess it’s pretty standard. Saute guanciale or pancetta or bacon (we appreciate Ray’s flexibility), remove from the pan, then saute minced shallots until transluscent and garlic until fragrant. Deglaze the pan with white wine and reduce slightly, then add in your pureed pumpkin, loosening the sauce with warm bone broth or stock, and add a pinch of saffron. Fold in your diced roasted pumpkin.
Ray includes the rest of the instructions in her Instagram post, and it’s pretty similar to a standard carbonara.
The dish comes together fairly quickly (especially if you’re using canned pumpkin puree and leftover roasted squash), but it’s definitely a step up from the fall comfort food recipes we usually stick to. If you’re looking for something new, it’s one recipe you’ve got to try.
Before you go, check out Garten’s best dinner recipes below:
Watch: How to Make Giada De Laurentiis’ Stuffed Lasagna Rolls
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