Roasted Pumpkin & Garlic Pasta and the BEST thing to ever happen to Apple Crisp...

So a FALL/Halloween dish I promised...and I do believe I think you'll enjoy this one!  As I took dinner on Sunday night from this:

To this! 

I had been wanting to try my hand at one of those smaller pumpkins for awhile for something OTHER than a pie or a dessert dish and I was so glad I did:)

But let's not get ahead of ourselves!  First, we must start with the OTHER roasted ingredient...The garlic!   If you've never roasted garlic before, you're seriously missing out on one of life greatest pleasures! (OK...maybe that's a little dramatic...but it IS REALLY, REALLY GOOD!:)

What you do is take the entire bulb and peel away a few of the outer 'paper-y' layers.... 

...and then slice off the very top of the bulb and drizzle with a little olive oil, salt & pepper...

...and then you wrap up the bulb in the foil, like so...

And bake the garlic at 350 for about an hour....(keep your nose alert!  If you can smell it, it's probably done:)  That little extra effort produces some INCREDIBLE results.....but let's move onward...

While the garlic starts to cook, you can work on the pumpkin!  To tackle this bad bear, I started by slicing off the edge of the pumpkin and clearing out the 'innerds.'  Next I sliced it into more manageable pieces...

...and then sliced it into even SMALLER portions so it was easier to remove the skin.  The easiest way I found was to start with the pumpkin skin side down on your cutting board and begin by running your knife along the edge of the skin...(much like you would a mango)

...and then I turned the slice on it's side and easily finished off the rest....

...Like so!...

Lastly, I diced up the pumpkin into small cubes...

It took me...maybe...15 minutes or so to take the pumpkin from gourd to cubes.  Not too bad, considering I was pretty intimidated about the whole process to begin with! :)

(And even though it did look like a pumpkin massacre on my cutting board;)

Anyway!  Next, I arranged the pumpkin pieces in a single layer on a foil lined baking sheet (MUCH easier clean up that way;)

And put to work two spices that are my FAVORITE with pumpkin....the econo-sized Cinnamon and the ITTTTTTY Bitty Sage;)

I figured a little sweet & savory action would go well with the 'kin:)  I also drizzled it with olive oil, salt & pepper...mixed all the flavors around and popped them in the 350 oven for about 30 minutes (turning after 15...)

And out came some perfectly golden and roasted pumpkin pieces!  They, alone, would have made a yummy snack...but we must press on;)

Once the pumpkin was almost done, I started the water for my pasta and a diced shallot in another pot with  a little olive oil....

Once the shallots cooked for a few minutes, I threw in about a quarter cup of white wine and let that boil down for a few minutes...

Thennnnnnn...I tossed in my roasted pumpkin to mix in all of that sage & sweet cinnamon with the white wine 'sauce'....   

Meanwhile, I had removed the roasted garlic from the oven....MMMMMMMMM...the smell alone when opening the foil was worth that extra effort of having this bake for an hour;)

Once you remove the garlic from the foil, you (CAREFULLY!!!  IT'S HOT!!!) squeeze out the garlic cloves.  It removes pretty easily from the "paper garlic layers," but if you miss a few, just pick them out:)  

I mashed the roasted garlic with a little salt and into the pumpkin pot it went...

I swirled that around the pumpkin with an added ladle of the starchy pasta water and a handful of grated cheese and WALLAH...

Roasted Pumpkin & Garlic Pasta.....yummmmmmmmmmm!!!!

You MUSTTTTT try this!!!  Not only was it a completely warm & cozy dish from all the roasting, but you got alternating hits of spicy sweet cinnamon, the savory sage and the toasted garlic.  SO GOOD!  (I'm DEFINITELY  going to use TWO bulbs of garlic next time!  We, unfortunately, only had one in the cabinet on Sunday....but we ALWAYS want more garlic;)

So cozy Sunday meals need cozy Sunday desserts, no??  And since we had a 4 day apple hiatus, I figured an apple crisp was not only wanted, but entirely necessary;)  hahahahhahaha....

And, oh good heavens, was this amazing!  I took a page from my "Salty Sweets" cookbook and threw together this 'Apple Crisp for 2'...(well, and a half....we had a small serving leftover;)

1. Peel and chop 2 baking apples.  Mix the apples in a pan (spritzed with non-stick spray) with a teaspoon of flour, a tablespoon of brown sugar, a MESS of cinnamon and a teaspoon of vanilla.  Set aside.
2. In a separate bowl, mix equal parts flour, brown sugar & oats (I used about a quarter, to a half a cup of each)...another MESS of cinnamon (don't be skimpy;) and a sprinkle of nutmeg (ok...be skimpy here...nutmeg is strong!:)...
3. AND FINALLY, (and this deserves it's own "step"): the BEST ingredient EVER to add to Apple Crisp:  a sprinkle of SEA SALT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Seriously...JUST. DO. IT!
4. Add three tablespoons of cold, sliced butter to the oat mix and work the mixture to create large crumbs. Sprinkle the oats/brown sugar/SEA SALT/butter mixture over top of the apples and top with just ANOTHER SMALLLLLL sprinkle of salt.....
5. Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes, or until the apples are soft and the topping is "CRISP"!  Serve warm....and with ice cream.  It's essential!

YOU will SERIOUSLY FLIP when you try this!  I kid you not!  Scott proclaimed it the BEST apple crisp he's ever had!!!!!!!!  It was just PERFECTION!! :)  Crispy, Sweet & just a little Salty...HEAVEN, I tell you:)

Now wasn't that soooooooooooo much better than the COMPLETELY boring salad I had last night??!! :)  hahahahahahhahaa.....(trust me, it was;)

AND, might I add, yesterday was sooooooooooooooooo not a salad night!!!  Be careful what you wish for, because it is now officially COLD in NJ:)  It was a TOUGH sell trying to get out from under my warm covers this morning to get into my work-out clothes!!  Thankfully, it took Bob Harper & his yoga all of 2.5 minutes to get me out of my "extra" warm layers that I threw on;) hahahahahhahahahha.....

And, unlike the last few weeks/months where soup was had despite the weather:  Tonight, soup will be had BECAUSE of the weather;)  hahahahahhahaha....And it's going to be a QUITE seasonal appropriate soup;)  Stay Tuned & have a great Tuesday:) 

Wine & Cheese 2010...

I'd be lying if I didn't say my entire weekend was spent in a variety of sweats & flannel PJ's....with warm breakfasts on the chilly (NAY...COLD!) porch:

...all under Penny's watchful gaze;)...

...lazy lunches with friends in Freehold....

...and pumpkin pie flavored gelato....

...on two obscenely GORGEOUS FALL DAYS!!!!!!!!!!

But I'm getting ahead of myself!  Because I MUST tell you first about Friday Night which wassssss...

Our third annual "Wine & Cheese Party!!!"  It is always our most quintessential FALL party....all with crossed fingers for a BRISK and CRISP evening!  And after 4 days of GROSS humidity...the skies parted and we got a WONDERFULLY cool night!  Perfect-o!

Wine & Cheese is also when I tap into my inner-Sandra Lee and break out my most FALL 'tablescapes';)  Complete with leaf plates, mini pumpkins & a "FALL" take-home gift:) 

But really...you're interested in the food, no???  For these types of parties, everyone likes to bring something so no one has to do too much work.  AND in that GREAT tradition:  We always have WAYYYYYYYYYYYYY too much;)  OF EVERYTHING!  Crackers/Chips much??

And THAT was just to put said-cheese ON!  Here's the rest of the good stuff:

A mini apple bread with herbed cheddar & Gorgonzola cheese cubes....

My little plate concoction of Gorgonzola with roasted figs, and Saint Andres cheese with both honey & NUTELLA...YES...chocolate & cheese is close to Godliness:)

My friend brought an apricot cheese, a SUPER SPICY-yet very FALL- maple chipotle Goat Cheese (HOOTTTTTTTTTTT!) and a cheese of MANY peppers (which I didn't even ATTEMPT! :) hahahahahhahaha

Another friend tapped into our true Jersey-Italian roots and festooned us with all of the appropriate colors...(and meats:)....

Anddddddd another friend brought a huge baked brie layered with salsa???  (I think it was salsa!  It was something with a KICK! :)

Is that enough????  Of course not!!!!  I also made us an Sausage, Apple & Cheddar Bread Pudding.....ya know...in case we didn't "have enough!" 

...made with this awesome Sweet Apple Sausage.  For real...there were ACTUAL pieces of apple IN the sausage!  YUM!!!

Along with the pears, apples, grapes, a cream cheese/salsa dip, pumpkin dip, mini Apple Cheddar soup shooters + THE WINE....we almost officially needed an extra table this year;)

 Anddd...after ALL that food, we actually only have ONE dessert;)  And at Wine & Cheese, our friend always makes the official dessert every year: a "Circle of Friends" Apple Cake!  It's brown sugar/apple goodness:)

And here's the ACTUAL "Circle of Friends"....with full bellies & wine in hand;)

Thanks ladies for a great night!  I'm already concerned how much cheese we are going to aquire for NEXT year;) hahahhahahahahaha.....

Hope you guys had a great weekend filled with friends & sunshine, too!  I still can't believe how COLD it got in Jersey over the weekend, but I'm NOT complaining!  I LOVE THIS WEATHER!!!!!!! :)

Andddddddd...since we are only having another "leftovers salad" tonight, I'm saving my best weekend cooking for you for tomorrow!  But I'll give you a hint, as it involves THIS:

And the return of THESE:

Stay tuned!  It's the most FALL/Halloween-esq thing I've cooked...dare I say...ever??? :)

Realllllly tried...

Sooooo....despite my efforts to wear brightly colored/October appropriate neck ware....

...which Penny really approved of, apparently....;)

You just could NOT get around the fact that yesterday was a GRADE A: GLOOM DAY!!!

Even a pumpkin coffee & an afternoon pumpkin frappacino couldn't salvage the fact that all you wanted to do was curl up in a ball and SLEEP!!!  And worse, despite those dreary skies.....it was still soooooooooooooooo HUMID out!!!  Bleh!!!  So we blasted our fake Arctic tundra (aka-the air conditioner that I am so. very. tired of using!) and got our full-out comfort food on...

It doesn't get much more cozy than Corn Bread topped Taco Bake....

We swapped out the ground beef for chicken, and tossed in a can of black beans for an added fiesta!....

All before topping and baking with the lovely little cornbread boulders;)....

And now what turned into the biggest bummer of the night:

ok....I'm certainly not saying I ever even SLIGHTLY thought these were 'healthy'...but once in a great while, I figured they were alright.  Wellllllllll...that was until I read the ingredients list, which wasn't until AFTER I added the onions to the batter.  That photo may have very well been my last oblivious moment of thinking these things were even MODERATELY OK....aka.-if PALM OIL is the FIRST ingredient on the list, it's probably REALLY bad news....bummer.  Farewell, French Onions:(

But anyway, I digress....despite my horror of the ingredient list, dinner still turned out to be warm & cozy...with a sweet cornbread coating...

Andddddd...another reason "Mexican" came into my mind for dinner last night, was because I had our other non-apple purchase from Terhune staring at me from the fridge all week......

(it was good guacamole...but it was no Tortilla Press!:)

The Xochitl chips, unlike the onions, had a much better ingredient list....

And they were SUPERRRRRRRRR light & crispy!!!  Almost like air!  So light, in fact, that they almost were borderline of not being a good 'dipping chip' :) hahahahhaha  But we managed;)

Soooooo.....despite the CONTINUED rain & cloudy skies, that CANNOT damper the fact that it's FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Which means I'm headin over to Ekat's Kitchen for her weekly potluck party:)

And it also means that tonight is the night of one of my (and I don't think I'm alone here:) most favorite "Fall Parties" of the year!  The gals & I start dreaming about this one sometimes around February 1st;)!  I shall be donning my most FANCY flannel attire and the 'wine-ing & dining' shall commence...hopefully to the tune of a SUPER brisk evening:)  Stay tuned!