Penne Pasta with Pumpkin and Sausage

Some of you might look at this and say Pumpkin with Pasta?? Trust me on this one, it is absolutely delicious. The pumpkin has a subtle sweetness and the salty and savory sausage balances it out so that you have a tasty and flavor filled pasta dish.








Put some water on to boil your pasta and lets gather some ingredients.




Some shallot or onion.




Pumpkin and Penne. Make sure you get pure pumpkin, NOT pumpkin pie filling.




Garlic




some pork sausage. you could also use chicken if you wanted to save on fat.




You also need some bay leaf, sage, cinnamon, nutmeg and white wine. You don't need red pepper but it was on the counter and looked nice, so I let it stay.




The dairy components, cheese and half and half.




Chicken broth.




Take the casing off of your pork and break it into small pieces.




chop up your shallots and garlic into a small dices.




Measure out the pumpkin and the spices, this way you have everything ready to add before you start cooking.




Your water should be boiling so get your pasta going. Meanwhile, brown the sausage over medium heat.




When the sausage is browned, remove it from the pan and replace it with the shallots and garlic.




Add in the wine and the bay leaf and bring it to a boil.




When it is reduced by half, stir in the pumpkin and spices as well as the broth. Let this cook for one more minute.




Add the sausage back in with the cream and fish out the bay leaf. Add some salt and pepper to season and warm this all through. Drain the pasta and combine with the sauce. Sprinkle some cheese on the top and you are ready to eat!




This was delicious and pumpkin is cheap these days because of the holidays so snatch some up and give this a try!