Pumpkin Sausage Pasta

My inspiration for this recipe was from Simply Organic’s website (I saw the recipe on their Facebook page!) I changed a couple of things (as always….I am notorious for doing that). I wanted to use a natural sausage with no preservatives and ended up using about 3 ounces less than called for – which was still a lot of meat for us and I swapped the heavy cream for whole milk. I have that on hand as Walker drinks it but I just cannot buy whole cream, to me whole milk is like drinking cream these days. And I swapped in more broth for the wine with me being pregnant. Otherwise I followed the recipe.

I really enjoyed the pasta dish. Very Fall feeling! My highlight of the dinner was turning my back to the cooling plate of sausage on the counter behind me. I turned around and Walker had scooted his little step stool over and was happily munching away…..

Pumpkin Sausage Pasta

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 hot Italian sausage links (I used a 13.3 ounce of Isernio), taken out of the casings
• 1 yellow onion, peeled and chopped
• 4 tsp granulated garlic
• 2 tsp dried sage
• 1 Bay leaf
• 2 cups lower sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup canned pumpkin purée
• ½ cup whole milk
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp ground black pepper
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• Salt, if desired
• 1 lb penne pasta

Directions:

Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, add in 1 Tablespoon of the oil and the sausage, crumbling up as it browns. Take off the heat and drain on a couple of paper towels.

Add the remaining oil and the onion to the pan, cook until soft, add in the garlic and cook a bit more. Add the sage, bay leaf and 1 cup of the broth, let reduce by about half, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining broth and pumpkin, stir well. Add the sausage, milk and seasonings, stir in. Cover, reduce to medium-low and let simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile cook the penne in a large pot of boiling water, to package time. Drain and add the hot pasta to the sauce, toss to combine. Add salt if desired to taste and serve.

Serves 4.

~Sarah