Pumpkin Orzo with Sage

Ingredients

• Splash olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 2 shallots
• 1 cup orzo
• 3 cups chicken stock (or vegetable if you’re avoiding meat)?1 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 4 sage leaves, ripped, plus 10 or so for garnish
• pinch brown sugar
• 1-2 cups hot water, if necessary
• sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Instructions

1. Heat chicken stock and wine together until lightly simmering.
2. Saute onions in butter and olive oil in a medium sized pot until soft.
3. Add orzo and 4 sage leaves and stir, cooking 1 minute.
4. Add stock/wine mixture by the ladleful, stirring constantly and pausing to let the stock absorb as you would for risotto.
5. After you’ve added about half the stock, stir in the pumpkin, honey, balsamic, and sugar. Keep adding stock until it’s gone, letting the pasta absorb.
6. After 8-10 minutes, check the progress of the pasta. Add hot water if necessary, ladleful at a time, until pasta is cooked. Sauce will be quite thick.
7. Sprinkle generously with salt and freshly ground pepper.
8. Garnish each serving with ripped sage leaves.

Notes