Great Pumpkin Pasta

Did you watch that show on PBS last night about the people who grow giant pumpkins? Oh man! It was emotional! I had no idea. I almost cried, myself (and let me just say, there was much discussion of crying). That lady who named her pumpkin Shasta? Oh, my heart. So good. I love shows like this. The best kind of TV. And it really did make me want to try to grow a giant pumpkin. But apparently you need a yard the size of a football field and absolutely no life, since you have to spend about four or five hours a day out in the garden taking care of your pumpkin and miss your daugher's soccer games. Since the 'kin can grow up to forty pounds a day. I have the no-life part (at least lately, since I never leave the property), so I could do that, but I don't have the yard for it. And let me tell you, if you, like me, thought growing a giant pumpkin seemed like "fun," you've got another think coming. Because when you watch this show, you will see that it looks like about the most stressful undertaking ever. Mice, woodchucks, beetles, hurricanes, and PATCH SABOTAGERS are all enemies of the great pumpkin. The lady describing her husband running around screaming and chasing the woodchuck was just hilarious. Sort of.

After I watched the show, I went to bed, and early this morning I had the weirdest dream that I was growing a secret giant pumpkin in the bathtub behind a white frosted shower curtain. This was in my old bathroom in my old apartment in the "brown box" in Rock Island, Illinois, where everything in the bathroom was bright white. I would never look at it, and then one day I did look at it and it was pale orange and bulging out of the tub (not attractive — giant pumpkins are actually pretty gruesome-looking, the poor beasts). I got very nervous and started to worry how I was going to tell Andy about it, and was wondering if the bathtub and 'kin was going to crash through the floor, and then what would the landlord say (I am terrified of landlords and whenever I had one would live in constant fear of getting yelled at by the landlord), and how would we get it out since it seemed to be sort of encasing the tub in its own warty folds. And then I woke up. THANK GOODNESS!!! Phew. Close one.

I woke Andy up and told him about the pumpkin show and the dream. It was hard to explain how obsessed I had become with the pumpkin in the past twelve hours just like the people on the show said would happen. Disturbingness!!!

I asked Andy to dictate one of the recipes he frequently makes in the fall. He has a few seasonal recipes in his repertoire that he makes, and I never make them. Because they're better when someone else makes them for you. This is one of those. Serve this with a big spinach salad and crusty French bread. Super great.

Great Pumpkin Pasta, as told to [me] by Andy Paulson, but originally from a recipe from Country Living magazine a couple of years ago

1 c. whipping cream or heavy cream
1/2 c. pumpkin puree
1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
20 leaves of fresh sage
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
3 links of mild Italian sausage
1 lb. rigatoni

The first thing you should do is find a little 9" x 9" . . . glass [metal] . . . thingy. So you can broil your sausage in it. Put the sausage in your pan, and put it in the oven and turn the broiler on.

Grab a [medium] pot. Pour your cup of cream in it, put your pumpkin puree and Parmesan cheese in, mix it together, and chop and add the sage, the salt, and the pepper. What I do is get the cream and stuff going and then I go out to the garden and cut myself some sage. Put that all on medium heat, bring to a simmer, then turn it down and leave it on a low simmer.

In the meantime, get the water boiling. When the water's boiling [please salt it, says Alicia], put the rigatoni in and stir. Look at the sausages and see if they're browned on top. If they are, use tongs to flip them. When the pasta's done, drain it, and return it to the pan. Add the cream sauce and stir it [gently]. Remove sausage from broiler and slice it into bite-size pieces and add it to the pasta. Sprinkle a little more Parmesan cheese on top and serve!!!

Comments

[Tara]

Oh, sounds delish! I wonder if it would be any good without the sausage (or with fake vegetarian sausage)? Hmmm...I'm adding it to the grocery list regardless!

[Cheriwan]

A, you CRACK ME UP!

I'm gonna have to try me that pasta, sounds delish!

[Jennifer Klages]

Oh yummy! I love anything pumpkin. I had the most fantabulous roasted pumpkin ravioli a couple of week ago. Amazing!

[Barbara]

Serious yum!!! Gotta try that recipe.

[Tiffany]

I just want to say that I am glad I am not the only person in this world with an irrational fear of landlords (although, to those of us with this fear, it is very well-founded). I had a landlady once who I swear was an honest-to-goodness witch. She cackled when she laughed, which was always at an inappropriate time but it just made me laugh along nervously and pray for her to leave.

[NATALEA]

Sounds wonderful-thanks for the recipe...I will definitely give it a try!
Happy Halloween Alicia!!

[cindy k]

of course you have the cutest dreams! happy pumpkin day, pumpkin.

[Toni]

Wow! That was some dream! Ha, warty folds--gruesome and hilarious at once...jeepers. Anyway, I've GOT to see that show! I'm going to look for it right now.

[Elizabeth]

Alicia,
I missed that show but I will definitely have to find it in reruns - it sounds great. If you are looking for a book to read, and like young adult literature, you should read Squashed by Joan Bauer. It's about a 16 year old girl who is trying to get her giant pumpkin to grow bigger. It's also about her coming of age of course. Anyway, you might enjoy it. Happy Halloween!

[emily]

Oh, god, the dictation of the recipe kiiilled me. I might have to make this this weekend, to keep the pumpkin-love alive.

You guys are the cutest. Thanks, A + A, for the recipe. ;)

[Katherine]

I couldn't believe it when I read Rock Island. I'm actually from the Quad City area. I've been reading your blog for awhile but I guess I've never realized it before if you had mentioned it. What a small world it is. :o)

[yoel]

I can't beleeeve I missed that show! This kind of TV is second only to the shows that have big red splotches or lines superimposed on sepia maps that move/expand to show where people/wars/nations/religions/etc are going.

Love the recipe! I had not thought of pureeing squash into a cream sauce, instead of chopping it up to trick people into thinking it's carrot :)

[fourdogday]

Your dream had me laughing and the recipe sounds wonderful. Might have to try it!

[Tricia]

oh my gosh, we missed it. was it the same as last year? where they put the mouse traps all around the pumpkin? It's crazy, I really want to see one of those contests..
ooh that sounds so good..

[What Happens Next...]

I, too, am terrified of landlords. Can't wait for my remodel to be finished, so I don't have to have one ever, ever again....

Oh, and the recipe sounds delicious! If the weather would just cool down here a bit, it would be the perfect Fall dinner. ;)

[KT]

Alicia, you crack me up! I'm wiping tears from my eyes from the imagined pumpkin-in-the-bathtub visual. warty folds, ha!

KT

[amigurumigirl]

Very scary dream but super sounding pasta. Can't wait to try it. Did you see the PBS show about Chickens??? Sounds like the same type of thing as the pumpkin show...

[MJ]

Your recipe sounds really yummy!. Thanks for sharing, but what I really, really like is the picture, great colours!!!

Regards from rainy (for once) Barcelona

MJ

[Muriel]

Your story made me laugh!!! The recipe sounds great. I still have some sage in the fridge, so I'll have to find a pumpkin that doesn't scare me...

[linda urban]

You've got to read Marlane Kennedy's ME AND THE PUMPKIN QUEEN. It's a middle grade novel, but it will bust your hear right up.

[Miss Cavendish]

My boarding school was right beside Howard Dill's farm, where Guinness-Book-of-World-Record pumpkins were regularly grown. It was always a delight to see so many "Great Pumpkins" outside my window . . .

[Heather]

I was first introduced to the world of giant pumpkins in a great YA book by Joan Bauer titled "Squashed," which is about a teenage girl who grows a giant pumpkin, and it is one of the nicest books I've ever read--a good, quick read for your fall list!

[michele]

Love the pumpkin recipe. It sounds so yummy! I miss seeing all the carved pumpkins in the US. In London, they're catching on, but not nearly to the same extent. It's murder trying to find a good one to make pumpkin pie with.

[dear libby]

I love the imagery you created in explaining your dream. Made me think of James and the Giant Peach.

[Rebekah]

oh I love this recipe and have made it several times this year (of course since last years post on it) ((I read everyday ))..anyway suggestion to up the amazing factor, five cheese tortellini is wonderful with the rich sauce!
You are hilarious with the giant pumpkin dream but trust me I would have cried too! Happy Halloween!