Pumpkin Sausage Pasta

This is another recipe that I wouldn’t have tried were it not for the challenge of cooking every recipe in Simply in Season. Pumpkin? Sausage? Pasta? Oh well, it has wine in it, if it tastes bad I can always finish off the bottle!

Ingredients:

• 1 lb penne pasta
• 1 lb bulk sweet Italian sausage
• 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
• 4 cloves garlic (minced)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 T fresh sage (cut into thin strips; otherwise use a dash of dried sage)
• 1 C dry white wine or chicken broth
• 1 C pumpkin or winter squash (cooked, pureed)
• 1/2C evaporated milk
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
• coarse salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook 1 lb of penne pasta and set aside.
2. Brown 1 lb of bulk sweet italian sausage in a large frying pan. Remove, drain fat, and set aside.
3. Add 1 medium chopped onion and 4 cloves of minced garlic and saute for 3-5 minutes, until soft.
4. Add 1 bay leaf, 2 T fresh sage, 1 C dry white wine or chicken broth (I used Barefoot Chardonnay). Add and cook about 2 minutes, until half the liquid evaporates. When I added the sage, I knew that would be the ingredient that tied the flavors together.
5. Add 1 C chicken or vegetable broth and 1 C pumpkin (cooked & pureed or just canned). Mix in, and stir until sauce bubbles. Add sausage and reduce heat.
6. Add 1/2 C evaporated milk, 1/8 t cinnamon, 1/2 t nutmeg, salt & pepper to taste. Simmer 5-10 minutes to chicken. Remove bay leaf. Pour sauce over cooked pasta, combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute. Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan cheese.

Serves 6, approx. 414 calories per serving if you use turkey sausage.

The verdict: I knew that my palate wasn’t used to pumpkin in anything other than pie or doughnuts or latte, so I tried not to think of that when I took my first few bites. Ahhh, it was actually quite good. At first my husband was a bit confused, he wasn’t so sure about pumpkin in his dinner. After the second bowl he said it wasn’t bad, but he wasn’t sure if it was something he’d order twice in a restaurant. I found it kind of fun, very autumn. I served it with Barefoot Chardonnay, which is a great low-priced white wine.

This recipe shared with Homemaker Mondays, Mouthwatering Mondays,