Pumpkin Pasta with Sausage and Wild Mushrooms
I cannot claim ownership of this photo - I gakked it because my camera is dead. So there’s my disclaimer 
Anyway, this is another Rachael Ray dish. You can’t go wrong with sausage and pasta! We thought maybe that it would be too similar to the other sausage dish I’ve posted, but it ended up being very different and quite wonderful.
Although this recipe called for mushrooms, we’ve decided they could easily be omitted as they sort of just blended in and didn’t really add much to the finished dish. There are a lot of ingredients in this one, but most of them I had lying around anyway, so it’s not a whole lot when you check your cupboard for the basics (pasta, onions, stock, garlic, wine, cheese, spices, etc. I all had on hand.) The pumpkin really lends a richness to this sauce that was unexpected (although I’m sure the cream helped too.) It’s full of simple goodness and is quite healthy. This is the first time we’ve tried this dish, but it certainly won’t be the last.
Ingredients:
1 lb. sweet or hot sausage (we use turkey, always)
1/2 lb. cooked penne pasta (or whatever shape you like, not too small)
1 chopped yellow onion
3 chopped cloves garlic
14 oz. canned pumpkin
3/4 c. chicken stock
1/2 c. white wine
1 Tbs dried sage
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
pinch cinnamon
1 3oz. package shitake mushrooms, sliced thin
1/2 c. half and half/cream/milk
Grated Parmesan
Chopped chives
Remove sausage from casing, cook until browned. Push to side of the pan. Add mushrooms, onions, and garlic. Cook until onions have started to soften and mushrooms have slightly browned. Stir together. Add white wine and let cook mostly off. Add chicken stock and simmer for one minute. Add pumpkin and stir (this will be thick!) Add cream, nutmeg, cinnamon, and sage, allow to simmer briefly. Add pasta and stir. Top with chives and cheese (Rick informs me that the “stinky cheese” is optional and the dish is still delicious. I am a girl who loves stinky cheese, so I piled it on.)
punkn’?! I have to admit, I’ve imagined pumkin in many things but never pasta! So interesting! Sounds worth trying out
PS- have you tried the “infamous” no-knead bread? I tried it out yesterday and posted my results- it’s AWESOME! 
I have not tried it. Recipe? I didn’t think the pumpkin would be good either, but this one blog I read, this woman cooked her way through the whole Rachael Ray book and said it was great. So off I went and it ended up being really good. Not sweet, as I had imagined. Probably because I think the only thing I’ve ever had with pumpkin is pie and bread
Ha! There’s the recipe on your blog. Disregard
*drool* Lizzie told me about a pumpkin ravioli she had one time and I have been trying to find a way to combine pumpkin and pasta without actual effort ever since - I mean, really, who has the energy to make their own ravioli? You (and RR) win at life! I wish I was going to be HOME ever so that I could cook this RIGHT NOW. Nnngh.
hey! i made this tonight and it was the bomb!
i used whole wheat penne, and instead of canned pumpkin, roasted a small butternut squash until it was soft and then scooped it out of the skin. butternut squash and pumpkin taste almost identical. next time i think chanterelle or oyster mushrooms would be great.
we both had seconds!
ok, this has become a regular around here. some variations:
-same thing about the butternut squash, but pureed in the food processor. better texture (more like canned but…with no can)
-crimini mushrooms = also good
-cibola farms (local, but not to you guys, unfortunately) makes an awesome free-range pork sausage with tarragon and shallots and nutmeg up in it. it goes perfectly.