Bring on the Pumpkin: Recipe #5

I've been really wanting to use fresh pumpkin instead of canned for a while now but since I had never done it, I kept putting it off. I had found a recipe for Pumpkin Cannelloni with Sage Brown-Butter Sauce that used fresh pumpkin on the Country Living website and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try it. Finally, after staring at the cute sugar pumpkin I had bought at the grocery store for almost a week, I decided today was the day! I was going to do it!

And it was really so easy that I'm kicking myself for not doing it sooner! The cutting was a bit time consuming but not difficult. And actually, the whole "time consuming" part is most likely just me being slow. If I were one of the Top Chef contestants I'd probably have the pumpkin peeled and chopped in a minute flat. The recipe I was using called for the pumpkin to be steamed which was super simple: I just put all of the pumpkin chunks into a covered saucepan with water and cooked on the stove for 20 minutes. The pumpkin turned a deep orange color and filled the kitchen with a sweet aroma, a definite plus over just opening a can.

Max arrived home from work for the second part of the recipe: mashing the pumpkin with cheese and stuffing it in lasagna noodles to make cannelloni! I showed him how to place the filling:

And roll up the pasta:

However if you look at our baking dish, you can tell which row is mine and which is my husband's ; ) The engineer in him just took over and he had to search for the best possible way to stuff the noodles by experimenting:

All in all a fun fall recipe!

Pumpkin Cannelloni with Sage Brown-Butter Sauce

Ingredients

U.S.

Metric

Conversion chart

• 1 1/2 pound(s) pumpkin, peeled, seeded, and chopped
• 1 1/2 tablespoon(s) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• 3 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 cup(s) ricotta
• 1/2 cup(s) grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 1/2 teaspoon(s) finely chopped fresh sage, plus 4 large whole leaves
• 1/4 teaspoon(s) salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon(s) freshly ground pepper, plus more to taste
• 1 package(s) (8-ounce) oven-ready lasagna sheets
• 6 tablespoon(s) unsalted butter

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Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Place pumpkin, along with 3/4 cup water, in a large skillet over medium heat. Cover and steam until tender, 20 minutes. Remove to a medium bowl and mash until smooth.
3. Heat 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil in a small skillet and sauté garlic until golden. Transfer garlic to a mortar and pestle, then crush to a paste. Stir cheeses, chopped sage, salt, pepper, and garlic paste into mashed pumpkin. Set aside.
4. Bring a large pot of water to boil. Cook lasagna sheets until tender, about 2 minutes. Transfer to a plate and drizzle with olive oil to prevent pasta from sticking together. Reserve 1/4 cup pasta water.
5. Liberally brush a medium baking dish with oil. Place a lasagna sheet on a cleanwork surface. Add 4 tablespoons pumpkin mixture to center of lasagna, roll into a cannelloni tube, then transfer to prepared baking dish. Repeat with remaining sheets.
6. Pour reserved pasta water over lasagna and cover tightly with foil. Bake until heated through and pasta is tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Cook butter and sage leaves in small skillet over medium-high heat until golden-brown. Drizzle over pumpkin cannelloni and serve immediately.