Name: Harvest Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Flavor-Packed Turkey Meatballs
Prep time: 24 h
Cook time: 2 h
Total time: 26 h
Yield: 8
Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients: 1 pie pumpkin; 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided; 1/2 zucchini, diced; 1/2 carrot, peeled and diced; 2 tablespoons red onion, peeled and minced; 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced; 1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala; 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger; Pinch of red pepper flakes; 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg; 1 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper; 1 cup pumpkin puree; 2 cups lite coconut milk (reserve 2 tablespoons for the meatballs); 3 ounces non-fat Greek yogurt; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 1 cup chicken broth; Juice of 1 lime; 8 sprigs cilantro (for garnish); 12 ounces specialty pasta, liked pumpkin zucchettes (cooked per package instructions); 1 tablespoon olive oil; 1/4 red onion, peeled and chopped; 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced; 4 zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch coins; 1 cup cubed, slightly cooked pumpkin (see pumpkin recipe below); 20 ounce package of ground turkey; 1/2 carrot, peeled and diced; 1/2 zucchini, diced; 2 tablespoons red onion, peeled and minced; 2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced

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Okay, I’m going out on a limb here. Harvest Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Turkey Meatballs is not a “toot sweet” recipe. Let me explain: yes, I created this recipe, so it’s a recipe unique to Toot Sweet 4 Two. But, it is not a quick recipe as in “toot sweet”. In fact, it’s rather labor intensive. But, if you have 42 pumpkins leftover from your Pumpkin Fever (which I get every October), then this is a savory and delicious recipe to add to your pumpkin recipe repertoire.

Since it’s rather labor intensive, it’s probably a good idea to make it in stages. In fact, it’s much better at least 24 hours later or even 48 hours later. Both the sauce and the meatballs get better with age (the flavors meld together).

For example, one day cook your pumpkin, the next day make the sauce and the third day make the meatballs. Then on the fourth day, reheat the meatballs in the sauce and make the pasta. Speaking of pasta…

This is the reason I created Harvest Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Turkey Meatballs. These darling “petite” pumpkin zucchettes and, well, those darn 42 pumpkins lying around the house. It’s now December and I need to decorate for Christmas and pumpkins don’t really fit in with the theme. But, my pumpkins are still perfect – not a soft spot in sight, so I didn’t have the heart to just throw them out. So, I decided to cook them. Oh, back to this pumpkin-shaped pasta…

I found this cute pasta at the shop in Bates Nut Farm when we went to the pumpkin patch this year. I’m sure it’s available (maybe not now since it’s December!) in other stores or even online. Anyway, because I had Pumpkin Fever, I had to have this bag of pasta. So, it required a special recipe. A few side notes about this pasta: they are not pumpkin flavored and they make a lot of pasta! Plus, cooked, they aren’t really “petite” – take a look…

Notice that there are 2 turkey meatballs alongside the pumpkin zucchettes in the bowl above. My turkey meatballs are portioned out with a 1 1/2-inch scoop, so they are not gigantic, but decent sized. The cooked pasta pumpkin zucchettes are almost the same size! Speaking of meatballs, here’s a picture of the raw meatballs ready for the oven just so you can see how many meatballs this recipe makes…

I baked these meatballs the same day I made them. But if you have room in your refrigerator, you can probably make them a day ahead and refrigerate them until you bake them. But, if you bake them the day you make them, they will be easier to store in your refrigerator because you can either put them in a plastic refrigerator bag or a covered storage container, taking up less room. Just a thought, since this recipe is a “project.” By the way, this recipe makes 24 to 28 meatballs depending on how you “scoop” and roll them.

It’s a “project” because I wanted chunks of pumpkin in the sauce, so I had to cook my pumpkin, but not overcook it (because while I wanted pumpkin puree for the sauce, I wanted chunks, too). I’ve never seen fresh pumpkin chunks sold in the grocery store or even frozen pumpkin chunks. But, I suppose you could substitute chunked butternut squash, which is more readily available.

This pumpkin sauce is flavored with coconut milk, Garam Masala, nutmeg, ginger, lime and other unusual things, which are carried over into the meatballs. It all melds together in a creamy deliciousness that smells amazing! I’m a firm believer in using what you already have in your pantry and refrigerator, so when trying to decide what to make to put on top of these cute pumpkin zucchettes, I scoured the pantry and spice drawer and decided to give it an Indian-type flavor profile.

I cooked the entire bag of pumpkin zucchettes and it makes a quite a bit! So, for the recipe, I’m recommending 12 ounces of cooked pasta instead of 16 ounces. That way you’ll have enough sauce to coat all the pasta.

Since there are just two of us (me and Charlie), we ate Harvest Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Turkey Meatballs for 4 days! So, here’s the good news: it keeps well, it gets better with age, it reheats easily in the microwave (just add a little milk or cream to loosen it up and then microwave it a few minutes, stir, and microwave for a few minutes more).

So, if you need a weekend project because you are a NASCAR widow like me (Charlie’s a huge NASCAR fan and never misses a race!) or a football widow or a basketball widow, etc., or if you want to make a different dish for a group of friends that are coming over for dinner later in the week, Harvest Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Turkey Meatballs in a delicious choice.

Here’s the recipe for Harvest Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Turkey Meatballs:

Harvest Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Flavor-Packed Turkey Meatballs

Harvest Pumpkin Pasta Sauce with Turkey Meatballs with cute pumpkin-shaped pasta

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Made over several days so that the flavors meld together, this dish gets better with age. It’s not difficult, but has many steps thus the high “prep time” and “cook time.”

Author: Carole from Toot Sweet 4 Two
Prep Time: 24 hours
Cook Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 26 hours
Yield: 8 1x
Category: Dinner
Cuisine: Indian

Ingredients

Scale

For the Sauce:

1 pie pumpkin
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 zucchini, diced
1/2 carrot, peeled and diced
2 tablespoons red onion, peeled and minced
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups lite coconut milk (reserve 2 tablespoons for the meatballs)
3 ounces non-fat Greek yogurt
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 cup chicken broth
Juice of 1 lime
8 sprigs cilantro (for garnish)
12 ounces specialty pasta, liked pumpkin zucchettes (cooked per package instructions)

For the Vegetables (to add to the sauce later):

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 red onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and diced
4 zucchini, sliced into 1/4-inch coins
1 cup cubed, slightly cooked pumpkin (see pumpkin recipe below)

For the Meatballs:

20 ounce package of ground turkey
1/2 carrot, peeled and diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
2 tablespoons red onion, peeled and minced
2 cloves garlic, peeled and minced
2 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro leaves (about 8 sprigs)
2 tablespoons lite coconut milk (from can listed above)
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons Garam Masala
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 egg, beaten
2 tablespoons olive oil

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Instructions

To Make the Pumpkin:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Wash outside of pumpkin, pat dry and place on baking sheet.
Bake for 30 minutes in preheated oven.
Remove from oven and allow to cool until you can touch it comfortably.
Cut pumpkin in half and scrape seeds from both halves using spoon.
Return 1/2 of pumpkin to baking pan and return to oven to cook 30 minutes more.
Cut other half of pumpkin into strips and remove skin (like you are cutting a cantaloupe).
Cut pumpkin into cubes; you should have about 1 cup of pumpkin cubes.
Refrigerate pumpkin cubes until you are ready to use them.
Remove other half of pumpkin from oven and allow to cool completely.
Once cool, scrape pumpkin pulp from skin and refrigerate until ready to use.

To Prepare the Veggies:

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large, non-stick skillet over medium heat.
Add 1/4 chopped red onion and saute’ a few minutes.
Add 2 cloves minced garlic and saute’ a few minutes more.
Add 4 sliced zucchini and 1 cup of slightly cooked, cubed pumpkin (reserved from above) and saute’ over medium heat until zucchini is lightly browned on edges, stirring frequently.
Remove from heat to a bowl and set aside.

To Make the Sauce:

Add 1 tablespoon olive oil to large non-stick skillet and heat over medium heat.
Add 1/2 diced carrot, 1/2 diced zucchini, 2 tablespoons minced red onion, 2 cloves minced garlic and stir to combine.
Add 1/2 teaspoon Garam Masala, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Saute’ veggies and spices for several minutes until veggies are tender.
In the meantime, add 1 cup pumpkin puree to a medium saucepan.
Add coconut milk, yogurt, chicken broth, Dijon mustard and heat over medium-low heat on stovetop.
Add sauteed’ veggies from bowl that was set aside (the veggies without the pumpkin) to sauce in saucepan.
Add the lime juice and stir to combine.
Using an immersion blender, blend until mixture is smooth (you’ll see flecks of the veggies).
Continue to heat over medium, until heated through.
Taste and adjust seasoning (salt and pepper) and add more salt, if needed.
Add zucchini and pumpkin mixture and stir to combine.
Remove from heat and allow to cool, then store in refrigerator overnight to meld flavors.

To Make the Meatballs:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
In large mixing bowl, toss 1/2 minced carrot, 1/2 minced zucchini, 2 tablespoons minced red onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, Parmesan cheese, Panko bread crumbs and chopped cilantro with fork.
Add 2 tablespoons coconut milk, 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard, 2 teaspoons Garam Masala, 1 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper and toss again with fork.
Add beaten egg and toss again.
Add ground turkey and gently combine with fork or clean hands (do not overmix or meatballs will not be light and fluffy).
Using a 1 1/2-inch scoop (cookie scoop), measure turkey mixture into meatballs, rolling in clean hands until even balls.
Place on parchment-lined baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.
Bake at 400 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until lightly browned.
Remove from oven and allow to cool.
Pack in refrigerator containers and store overnight to meld flavors.

To Finish Making Recipe:

Remove sauce and meatballs from refrigerator.
Spoon sauce into large non-stick skillet.
Add meatballs to sauce and turn heat to medium low.
Heat on medium low, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, make pasta per package instructions (fill large pot with water, add salt, bring to a boil, add pasta and cook 5 to 8 minutes – taste one at 6 minutes to test – drain) and place drained pasta in large serving bowl.
Ladle sauce and meatballs over cooked pasta and sprinkle with cilantro leaves.
Serve.