Elegant Sauce AND Thanksgiving Pumpkins!

There's a bright moon out on this chilly Tuesday night and what better idea than plan your Thanksgiving desserts while eating a warm bowl of bucatini? There is none! Tonight I'm bringing you a deliciously easy and warming idea for dinner (supplement your favorite meatballs here) while you make your choice among these yummy pumpkin pie recipes. 

Bucatini with Butter-Roasted Tomato Sauce

Dawn Perry

Ingredients

• 1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
• 8 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed
• 2 anchovy fillets packed in oil
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes plus more for serving
• Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper
• 12 ounces bucatini or spaghetti
• Finely grated Parmesan (for serving)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F. Combine tomatoes (crushing them with your hands), garlic, anchovies, butter, and 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes in a 13x9" baking dish; season with salt and black pepper. Roast, tossing halfway through, until garlic is very soft and mixture is jammy, 35–40 minutes. Using a potato masher or fork, mash to break up garlic and tomatoes.
2. Meanwhile, cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta cooking liquid.
3. Return pasta to pot and add tomato sauce and pasta cooking liquid. Cook over medium-high heat, tossing until sauce coats pasta, about 3 minutes. Serve topped with Parmesan and more red pepper flakes.

DO AHEAD: Tomato sauce can be made 4 days ahead. Let cool; cover and chill. Reheat before mixing with pasta.

Now onto the pumpkin pies! My favorite!

Pumpkin Pie

Andrew Zimmern

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water

Filling

• 2 cups roasted and pureed fresh pumpkin
• 2/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half
• 2 large whole eggs
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons unsulfured molasses
• 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/4 cup crème fraîche

Directions

1. MAKE THE CRUST In a large bowl, whisk the flour with the salt. Rub in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. In a cup, beat the egg yolk with 3 tablespoons of the water; drizzle over the flour mixture and stir with a fork. Press the crumbs together to form a rough dough, adding the remaining 1 tablespoon of water if needed. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, gather up any crumbs and knead gently just until the dough comes together. Pat the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a 12-inch round. Fit the dough into a deep 9-inch glass pie plate. Trim the overhanging dough to 1 inch. Fold the dough under itself and crimp decoratively. Prick the dough all over with a fork and chill for 10 minutes.
3. Line the pie shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until set. Remove the pie weights and bake for about 10 minutes longer, or until the shell is golden. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°.
4. MEANWHILE, MAKE THE FILLING In a large bowl, whisk the pumpkin puree with 2/3 cup of the sugar and the half-and-half, whole eggs, egg yolks, molasses, pie spice and salt. Pour the filling into the hot pie shell and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until the center is just set and the edges are slightly puffed. Transfer the pie to a rack and let cool to room temperature.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk the heavy cream with the crème fraîche and the remaining 1 tablespoon of sugar until it holds soft peaks. Serve the pie with the whipped cream.

MAKE AHEAD The pie can be refrigerated for up to 2 days.

Pumpkin Mascarpone Pie

Sarah Patterson Scott

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup chilled non-hydrogenated solid vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1/4 cup (or more) ice water

Filling

• 1 cup canned pure pumpkin
• 1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese*

Whipped Cream and Mascarpone Topping:

• 1 cup chilled whipping cream
• 1/4 cup mascarpone cheese*
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

For crust:

1. Blend flour and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 1/4 cup ice water; pulse until dough begins to clump, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 30 minutes. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll out dough on floured work surface to 12-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch glass pie dish. Trim overhang to 1 inch beyond rim. Crimp edges. Chill crust while making filling.

For filling:

1. Using electric mixer, beat pumpkin and sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and next 7 ingredients and beat until blended. Add mascarpone cheese and beat just until mixture is smooth. Transfer filling to prepared crust.
2. Bake pie until custard is set, about 55 minutes. Transfer pie to rack and cool. 

DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Tent with foil and chill.

For whipped cream and mascarpone topping:Combine ingredients in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat to soft peaks. DO AHEAD: Can be made 4 hours ahead. Cover and chill.

Serve pie with topping.

*An Italian cream cheese; sold at many supermarkets and at Italian markets.

Maple Pumpkin Brulee Pie

Saveur

Ingredients

• Flour, for dusting
• ½ recipe Flaky Butter Pie Dough
• ¼ cup dark brown sugar
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 (15-oz.) can pumpkin purée
• 1 cup heavy cream
• ¼ cup maple syrup
• 2½ tbsp. potato starch
• 2½ tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1½ tsp. ground ginger
• 1 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ tsp. ground clove
• ½ tsp. Kosher salt
• ¼ cup Demerara sugar

Directions

1. Heat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a 12″ round. Fit into a 9″ pie plate. Trim edges and crimp; chill 30 minutes.
2. Whisk sugars and eggs in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Add pumpkin, cream, syrup, potato starch, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, clove, and salt; whisk until smooth. Pour filling over dough; using a spatula, spread into an even layer. Bake until just set in the center, 45–50 minutes. Transfer pie to a rack; let cool to room temperature, then refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.
3. Sprinkle Demerara sugar evenly over surface of pie. Guide the flame of a blowtorch back and forth over surface until sugar caramelizes. Serve immediately.

Happy baking!

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Did I forget anything? Bake on, my friends!