Fall Pasta with Pumpkin, Sausage and Sage

I have finally surrendered to Fall, after enjoying two fun-filled days at the Harvest Festival. I still have hundreds of photos (mostly of Tyler Florence) to sort through, organize and compile into recipes. After watching Tyler Florence make his beautiful dish of pan roasted rabbit with roasted pumpkin, harvest grapes, chestnut polenta and garnished with sage infused olive oil-- and garnished with fried sage leaves... I had pumpkin on the brain!

 I'm going to give my blubbering about  meeting Tyler Florence a rest for a few days-- instead, this is a recipe that I watched Rachael Ray make about 4 years ago. I've made it several times, and it's a nice way to work with pumpkin puree as a savory pasta.

This is super quick, folks-- though, it does take me 45 minutes to make in my small kitchen with minimal counter space.  I invite you to try this recipe, even if you aren't a Rachael Ray fan-- for whatever reason that is. Trust me, the first time I heard "Pumpkin Pasta" I thought "bleccccccccccch". I'm a new believer in this recipe. It's simple, with just a hint of cinnamon and nutmeg, a little kick (I use HOT Italian turkey sausage) and just the right amount of sage to compliment the pumpkin puree.

Many of the ingredients for this dish are probably in your pantry. I didn't photograph the ingredients, but the shopping list isnothing hard to find, at all. You need penne pasta (I used farfalle, this time), Italian sausage (I use HOT Italian sausage), pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling), garlic, onion, olive oil, fresh sage, cinnamon and nutmeg. One of these days, I'm going to roast and puree fresh pumpkin. Still, I buy my canned pumpkin at Trader Joe's and I think it's just as good-- and a lot less work.

I always have fresh garlic and I'm fortunate to have a hearty sage plant in my backyard. I love sage, and I think it's perfect with pumpkin. Don't you?

Here's how easy it is, to make this delicious pasta dinner:

Heat a large, deep nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and brown the sausage in it. Transfer sausage to paper towel lined plate.

Drain fat from skillet and return pan to the stove. Add the remaining tablespoon oil, and then the garlic and onion. Saute 3 to 5 minutes until the onions are tender.Add bay leaf, sage, and wine to the pan. Reduce wine by half, about 2 minutes.Add stock and pumpkin and stir to combine, stirring sauce until it comes to a bubble.

Return sausage to pan, reduce heat, and stir in cream.

Season the sauce with the cinnamon and nutmeg, and salt and pepper, to taste. Simmer mixture 5 to 10 minutes to thicken sauce.

Return drained pasta to the pot you cooked it in. Remove the bay leaf from sauce and pour the sausage pumpkin sauce over pasta. Combine sauce and pasta and toss over low heat for 1 minute.  This makes a lot-- 4-6 generous servings.
NOTE: Borrowing an idea from watching Tyler Florence, I infused a little olive oil with sage leaves. The oil, I drizzled over the pasta, and I garnished the pasta with the fried sage leaves.  Extra Yummy Units!

Garnish the pasta with lots of shaved cheese and sage leaves.  Do I dare say it?  "Yumm-o".  If you click on the picture, you can really see the sauce and the sausage-- it sure was good!

I haven't made a Rachael Ray recipe in a very long, for no particular reason.  I still like her, no matter what her harsh critics say. At least Rachael doesn't use canned cream of "whatever" soups, and she does use a lot of fresh herbs.  This is one of our favorite quick meals, that's a little different. This pasta dish screams "Autumn"!