pasta {pumpkin + pancetta}

I love pumpkin. In almost any shape or form, I buy them. I love to cook with them, I love to look at them and I love to photograph them. And when I say ‘pumpkin’ I mean winter squash. Butternut I know and love, but put a pile of gnarly orbs in a basket at the market and I will happily take any or all home with me to experiment.

But for all my love of weird and wonderful gourds with names I’ve ever heard of, you want to know what’s my standby for pumpkin pie? A can of Libby’s. Yes. Canned pumpkin puree. I know I should be roasting butternut squash, letting it drain and them starting from scratch. But for me, one of the fundamental tastes of Thanksgivings past is that pumpkin pie my mother always made. And a can of Libby’s was always part of it.

This past weekend we celebrated Thanksgiving up in Umbria. For years, when the girls were younger, this was a yearly feast that took weeks to prepare for. But lately I’d gotten lazy. First of all Thanksgiving is just not a holiday here. It’s just another Thursday in my already busy life. But this year Emma, who is living in London, specifically asked for a celebration. And since Emma really never asks for much, I gladly said yes. Did I mention she also wanted to invite 8 people and 3 dogs over as well? For a sleepover?

It was, of course,  a lot of fun and I learned a few things. After all these years I’ve got the Thanksgiving thing down. It’s just another feast and at this point in my life I can do feast in my sleep. After a stop on the way up to Umbria on Friday, to pick up a 23 pound turkey at a farm north of Rome, the rest was pretty straightforward. Gillian arrived early and was on mashed potato duty. Sides came from the garden, as well as the farmers market. It was all delicious mostly because the ingredients were so good they didn’t need so much to turn them into Thanksgiving fare.

But my favorite dish, of course, was the pumpkin pie. And that, my dears, came courtesy of Libby’s. Cans brought over from the USA over the course of the last month by anyone I could ask. But since I’m usually the only one who actually eats it, I only made one small pie, thinking everyone else would focus on the pecan (thank you Eugenia for that) and apple. But it all got eaten! There was no leftover pie. So when I got back home from Umbria on Sunday night the first thing I did, was make myself another pumpkin pie. Which, I’m very happy to tell you I had a big slice of for breakfast this morning. Because really, isn’t that the best part of Thanksgiving?

Are you wondering what recipe I use? The one on the can of course. With a few tweaks. I substitute brown sugar for white. And heavy cream instead of condensed milk. The crust (which I never blind bake) is Melissa’s tired and true all butter masterpiece.

Like I said, this is one of the few instances when I prefer canned over fresh winter squash. A few weeks ago when I was in the supermarket in Todi I saw some ridiculously oversized gourds on display. They were propped on the rickety cart that always sits at the entrance to the Super Emi as their attempt to make everyone think the vegetables are not coming from some centralized wholesale market, but have rolled up from a local farm. I didn’t even think they were edible, only for show. And immediately instagrammed the hell out of them.

But the following week, when I showed at the Super Emi again,  the gourds had been cut into pieces and were tightly wrapped in plastic, ready to be taken home in manageable chunks. Which of course I did. And then used to make one of my favorite pasta dishes. Turns out they are not just ridiculously photographable. They are also ridiculously delicious.

I’ve been making some version of this pasta for years. Some kind of winter squash with some kind of pork. But lately, instead of cutting the squash into chunks, I’ve been grating it. This means that it cooks much more quickly and I can keep it from turning mushy. It also has a more intense taste because it is basically only stir fried.

I’ve since found out the name of the squash I bought at the supermarket: Zucca Lunga di Napoli. It was fantastic! One of the best I’ve ever had. But it’s  been hard to find again and if you can’t, you can experiment with others. This was very intense tasting, very firm and quite sweet. I loved the combination of salty pork with sweet pumpkin. The pasta I used was a pack I brought home with me from Abruzzo: Rustichella’s Farro Pizzichi. It was the perfect earthy foil to the sweet and salty sauce. So if you can find a good whole wheat or farro pasta, I’d suggest that.

The one kind of squash you can’t use for this? Canned. Not even Libby’s . Sorry.

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pasta {pumpkin + pancetta}

Cook 40 mins

Total 40 mins

Author Elizabeth

Yield 5 -6

Ingredients

• 1 pound / 500 gr whole wheat or farro pasta
• 4 cups winter squash, grated on the biggest whole of a box grater.
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly grated black pepper
• 1 cup pancetta, chopped into small cubes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Pour olive oil into a pan big enough to hold all of the pasta later. Heat over medium heat and add the pancetta. Cook over medium heat, so that all the fat melts and the pancetta begins to turn golden. Scoop out the pancetta with a slotted spoon and place in a small bowl.
2. Add the onion, salt and pepper to the pork fat. Cook on medium low heat until the onions are very tender, but not browned. About 15 minutes. Add the grated pumpkin, and stir, raising the heat. Add the reserved pancetta back to the pan.
3. In the meantime bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Add the pasta and cook until almost done.
4. Keep stirring the pumpkin while the pasta is cooking, adding some of the pasta cooking water to the pan to help cook the pumpkin.
5. When the pasta is done, drain reserving 2 cups of the pasta cooking water. Add the pasta to the pan with the pumpkin, raising the heat and stirring. Add a cup of the reserved water, to let the flavors blend, and to finish cooking the pasta. Taste for doneness, and add more of the water if you need it.
6. You can top with grated parmigiano, but I don’t think it’s needed. Instead, I prefer just a bit of hot pepper.