Cheesy Baked Pumpkin Pasta With Kale

I know it's apostasy, but I made this according to the recipe. It was very good.

This was so so tasty! I made a few changes. I sauteed the kale with garlic and red pepper flakes before adding it to the pasta. Strongly recommend this. I skipped the ricotta entirely, used only 1/2 cup Parmesan, and went scant on all the other cheeses. It was still more than creamy and cheesy enough. Used 1 cup of veggie broth to thin out the sauce consistency. Only had fresh rosemary (no thyme) but think this really made the dish. I sprinkled some extra on top pre-bake. It smelled heavenly!

I added silken tofu instead of cream and less cheese - it seemed not to make much of a difference and the result was not too heavy. The herbs are a definite must as canned pumpkin really has little taste. It’s a lovely alternative to baked ziti!

Used roasted butternut squash instead of pumpkin, sauce was so tasty I wish there were more of it and less cheese. Ricotta is lovely and fresh on this dish, could use less mozzarella, and a little less Parm and gruyere.

You can play pretty fast and loose with the cheese. I wanted to cut the richness so I probably added at most 2/3 of the amount of cheese here, and it was just fine! I did a bad and got low-fat ricotta by accident, though. That stuff is NASTY. Please follow the instructions and get whole-milk ricotta only.

I substituted broccoli for kale to give a bit of crunch to the dish, and it was perfect! Also, fresh mozzarella cut into cubes added a stretchy cheesy goodness to the dish, and pleasant little surprises mixed into the pasta.

Made this for my family tonight and we loved it..I doubled the garlic, and used (much) more cheese than the recipe called for. Really delicious and would make a great side for thanksgiving dinner. We bought a pumpkin upstate a few weeks ago and my freezer is stocked with homemade purée, this is great use for it! Next time I think I won’t bother using veggie stock for the pumpkin cream mixture, but just use water instead. There is enough flavor from the spices.

Very easy, fast and delicious; a nice transition into fall. I didn't have heavy cream, but added about a 1/2 c. of plain yogurt. The sauce needed a little boost of flavor. I increased the salt, and added a tsp+ of thyme and marjoram and a little tumeric.

This is a fabulous and flexible recipe. My tweaks: increase the pumpkin (or winter squash), broth and ricotta by 30-50% and decrease the other cheeses by 20-30%. I didn’t have gruyere but a nice local aged cheese was a fine substitute. I used mozzarella not Fontina and I also let the pasta cook a bit longer. As has been recommended, I didn’t cook the kale in the pasta water - I sautéd it with the garlic instead, and I’ve used fresh sage instead of thyme as I had it on hand.

Made mostly as directed except no heavy cream or kale so subbed spinach and greek yogurt. Also topped with cheezit's cause I'm classy like that. Really creamy and perfect with a pumpkinhead beer.

I followed advice and sautéed the kale with the garlic and red pepper flakes. I went further and added the cream at the end. I mixed the pumpkin with the fresh herbs (adding parsley as well) and substituted strong gruyere and comte in lieu of the milder grated cheeses. I mixed the kale with the pumpkin and then added the parboiled pasta along with about 1/4 cup of the pasta water. I layered the mixture with the ricotta. It baked up perfectly.

I made this tonight. Sautéed double the amount of kale in evoo and shallots first. Used whole wheat penne pasta. Used Italian seasoning/ herb blend instead thyme. Used pecorino romano instead of parm. Used Greek you hurt instead of heavy cream. Loved it. Would probably fold in ricotta next time rather than dollop on top.

I made some changes, but mostly to methodology. Heeding others, I sauteed the kale in olive oil with red pepper flakes and garlic. I used large elbows with an al dente time of 13 mins, so 4 mins seemed too low. I opted for 12 mins. (Maybe this is why some found theirs dry? Short pasta cook time = leeching sauce?) Also, I did not drain my pasta; I transferred it with a skimmer, along with the pasta water still clinging to it. Baked at 350 for 30 mins, broiled for 3, turning once. Fun and festive!

This recipe is somehow less than the sum of its parts. It’s very good, but with all the delicious things that went into it (my favorite cheeses, fresh herbs, pasta, pumpkin), it wasn’t as good as it seemed like it should have been. Vague criticism, I know. I followed the recipe very closely, but added crumbled bacon on top. The bacon was probably the best part. It definitely won’t go to waste—it is tasty. But there are better spins on mac and cheese out there and I won’t be remaking this one.

I made the recipe as written (rule follower) and it was somewhat high effort, but truly special and autumnally scrumptious. Autumptious!