Sometimes, and by sometimes I mean most times. I’m making a quick and easy dinner. While I love cooking, more often than not I am quite lazy. Which is why it’s important to have a simple go-to pasta recipe in your back pocket. This creamy cajun pasta is great because it uses a can of pumpkin puree for those nights when you could not possibly wait for a squash to cook in the oven but you think a little vegetable would probably do you good.

Grocery List

Bacon
Red Pepper
Onion Powder
Dried Oregano
Heavy Cream
Salt

Dried Pasta
Canned Pure Pumpkin
Cayenne Pepper or Red Pepper Flakes
Dried Thyme

Yellow Onion
Garlic Powder
Smoked Paprika
Parmesan
Tomato Paste

Building Flavour

You could toss everything in here and just cook away, but the process of building flavour helps to create something greater than the sum of its parts.

By starting the bacon in a cold pan the fat will slowly rende and you will be able to better control the cook and prevent burning. You always want to prevent burning bacon, but especially here because we want all of the little bits, called fond, that are stuck to the bottom of the pan to add flavour to our sauce.

Once you’re bacon has reached your perfect level of crispness we remove most of the fat in the pan, leaving about 2 Tbsp to cook the vegetables. There is no need for additional oil here because the bacon already provided us with liquid gold. Adding the vegetables to the pan will quickly cool the surface giving you time to scrape up all of that fond I mentioned earlier.

Once the vegetables have softened all of those dried spices can get tossed into the pan at once. Dried spices like to be cooked but not burnt, so stir them around until the fragrance blossoms.

The final step over heat is to add in the tomato paste. Stir it constantly until all of the vegetables are evenly coated and the paste has deepened in colour.

Equipment

Cutting Board
Chefs Knife
Tongs
Frying Pan
Large Pot
Blender
Rubber Spatula
Microplane

Ingredients

500 g Dried Pasta
375 g Bacon Preferably Thick Cut
1 Yellow Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper
2 tsp Smoked Paprika
1 tsp Dried Oregano
0.5 tsp Dried Thyme
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp Salt
1/4 Cup Tomato Paste
400 mL Canned Pumpkin Puree
1/4 Cup 35% Cream
Parmesan Cheese
Black Pepper

Instructions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Once boiling add in the dried pasta and cook according to the package directions.
Once cooked reserve 1 cup of the pasta water, drain and return the pasta to the pot. You can toss the noodles with a touch of oil to prevent them from sticking together.
Meanwhile, prep your vegetables by dicing both the onion and red pepper then set aside.
Add the sliced bacon to a cold pan and turn to medium heat. If the bacon doesn't all fit cook it in batches. If you stack or overlap the slices they will meld together.
As the bacon cooks turn and rotate as necessary to promote even cooking until golden and crispy, this took 8-10 minutes for me.
Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate and finely chop or crumble once cool.
Carefully remove all but two tablespoons of fat from the pan and add in the diced peppers and onions.
Stir and scrape up all of the bacon bits stuck to the bottom and continue to cook stirring occasionally until the vegetables have softened, about 8-10 minutes.
Toss the smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, garlic powder, cayenne and salt into the pan and stir constantly until fragrant before adding in the tomato paste and stirring until it reaches a deep red colour.
Transfer the cooked vegetables to the blender with the reserved pasta water, entire can of pure pumpkin and the heavy cream then blend to combine. This sauce is INCREDIBLY thick so you may need to scrape down the sides a few times.
Add the sauce to the pot with the pasta and return to medium heat, stirring and tossing with tongs until all of the noodles are coated and everything is hot.
Divide between plates and serve each portion of pasta with a generous grating of parmesan cheese, bacon bits and fresh cracked pepper. Enjoy!