70 degrees is an amazing day in Minnesota and I had to take advantage of it, Clifford and I went for a 40 minutes walk through the trails buy our house. Clifford stopped to smell just about everything and thoroughly enjoyed chasing a few leaves, eating another worm and barking at the runners (hello very cute shirtless guy running 
). After our leisurely walk I was in the mood for a comfort food style of dinner and thought pasta would be good. A few weeks ago I had found this recipe for Pumpkin Pasta and I figured it would be a good option to try, it didn’t require a ton of fresh ingredients and we have most of these items on hand (except for the kale).
While cooking I contemplated opening a bottle of wine but knew I had book club on Wednesday evening and wouldn’t be home to drink any more glasses and I hate when wine goes bad! So I opted for a beer 
I don’t drink beer all the often but Summit had come out with a new Rye beer that I had yet to try and figured tonight would be a great time to give one a shot. This is a very dark beer and that reminded me of a cross between their IPA and the Winter Ale.
Ingredients
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 pound gemelli pasta, cooked and drained
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 bunch (about 8 ounces) kale, thick stems removed and leaves chopped into 1-inch pieces
- 1 can (29 ounces) pumpkin puree, (not pumpkin-pie filling)
- 2 cans (14.5 ounces each) reduced-sodium vegetable broth
- 2 tablespoons jarred sun-dried tomato pesto
- 1/2 cup unblanched almonds, sliced (I used cashews)
Directions
- Cook pasta, and drain; reserve. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add kale; cook, stirring, until wilted, 3 to 5 minutes. Add pumpkin, broth, and pesto; stir to combine. Bring to a simmer. Season with 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper.
- Toss pasta with pumpkin-kale mixture. Transfer to a 9-by-13-inch baking dish or eight individual dishes. Top with almonds. Bake until top is golden, about 30 minutes.
I served this with a bit of parmesan cheese on top and dug in, the pumpkin sauce was incredible. Thick and almost Bolognese like! This made enough to feed a HUGE family so I ended up freezing two large Tupperware containers full of the pasta and I even have 3 small servings out for the rest of the week.
Next time I would add a bit of breadcrumbs to the top and some red pepper into the pumpkin sauce for some heat. This is going in the make again someday pile.
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