Pumpkin Brown Butter Mac and Cheese with Sage and Parmesan Breadcrumbs
Author: 
Serves: 6-8
 
Ingredients
  • 1 pound rigatoni
  • 6 tablespoons butter, divided
  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • ½ teaspoons salt
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • 5 tablespoons sage, minced and divided
  • ¾ cup + ⅛ cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 cup cream
  • 1 ½ cups half and half
  • 1 ½ teaspoons salt
  • ¼ teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 ½ cups gruyere cheese
  • ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese + 2 tablespoons, divided
  • 2 cups fresh breadcrumbs (Just take day-old bre
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Fill a large stock pot full of water. Bring to a boil and season liberally with salt. Once the water comes to a rolling boil, add in pasta, stir. Cook pasta until just under aldente. (You will be cooking it again in the oven so you don’t want the pasta overcooked.)
  3. While the pasta is cooking make the bread crumbs and brown butter. For the crumbs: Melt two tablespoons butter in a small skillet over a medium heat. Add in bread crumbs, ¼ teaspoon salt, two tablespoons chopped sage and two tablespoons parmesan. Toast until slightly golden and crunchy.
  4. In a small skillet, melt four tablespoons butter over a medium-high heat. Once the butter begins to brown, swirl the pan until it becomes a deep brown color and smells nutty, immediately reduce heat to medium and add in sliced onions and garlic. Once the onions begin to soften after two to three minutes, add garlic and three tablespoons sage. Continue to cook until, onions are translucent and garlic has softened, another two to three minutes. Add in flour, cook for one minute.
  5. Once pasta is just under aldente, drain.
  6. In the pot you cooked the pasta in, whisk together cream, half and half and pumpkin puree. Turn the heat on a medium flame and bring the cream mixture to a simmer. Once it’s simmering, add in onion and garlic mixture. Add salt and black pepper. Simmer until sauce is slightly thickened. Add pasta back into mixture, along with gruyere cheese and ¾ cup parmesan cheese. Stir to combine.
  7. Transfer mixture to a greased baking dish, top with breadcrumbs and bake for 20-25 minutes until bubbling and brown.
Recipe by Cooking for Keeps at https://www.cookingforkeeps.com/pumpkin-brown-butter-mac-and-cheese-with-sage-and-parmesan-breadcrumbs/