When I made this dish for the first time earlier this year (before I created this blog), Paul said it tasted like something he would “pay $17 for in a restaurant.” I made a note of that compliment in my recipe file because I enjoyed hearing it so much!
This is delicious and easy to put together. Highly recommended.
Sausage and Pumpkin Pasta
(Adapted from Emily Bites)
- 10-16 oz uncooked penne rice pasta (the amount is your choice, depending how big your serving sizes will be – I used a 16-oz bag so I would have leftover pasta for later)
- 1 lb sweet Italian sausage (could also use hot/spicy flavor, if desired)
- 8 oz fresh button mushrooms, roughly chopped into small bite-size pieces
- 1 medium onion, chopped
- 4-6 garlic cloves, minced
- 2 cups chicken broth (I used homemade)
- 2 cups canned pumpkin
- 1/2-1 cup white wine
- 1 teaspoon sage
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- Parmesan cheese, grated (for serving)
- Dried or fresh parsley (for garnish)
Cook pasta according to package instructions. Rinse with cold water, drain, and set aside.
Cook the sausage over medium heat until the sausage is fully browned. Remove sausage from pan and drain excess fat. Cook the onions and mushrooms until soft/translucent; add the garlic and cook for an additional minute. Return sausage to pan.
Stir in the broth, pumpkin, wine, sage, garlic powder, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened slightly.
At this point, you can add the pasta directly to the sauce if you wish, but I prefer to add the sauce to my portion of pasta individually — that way I can have as little (or as much) sauce as I want.
Garnish each portion with Parmesan cheese and parsley.
This looks good and I think I might try it soon. I would toss the sauce the pasta together together so the sauce would get all up in the grooves of the pasta and the pasta would soak up the yummy flavors :)
That makes sense, but I promise it tastes awesome with rice pasta even if the sauce is added separately. :) Let me know if you end up making it!
Do the instructions for rice pasta call for it to be rinsed? You typically wouldn’t do that with “regular” pasta because it would wash away all the good starches and makes the pasta bland. I will post it on my blog if I make it :)
It actually does call for it to be rinsed, per the instructions on the back of the bag. It says, “For superb texture, rinse with cold water.” :)
I don’t really cook for just myself, but I love pumpkin, and this dish looks amazing. I would echo Paul’s comment about paying $17 for it based on just reading the recipe, but I’m going to file this one away in case I ever get to cook for a man again. :)
And now that I re-read that, it sounds horribly old-fashioned. Ha.
I don’t think it sounds old-fashioned! I was single for many, many years (9 out of the 10 years that I was in my 20s, in fact). Even though I’ve always liked to cook, I wouldn’t do so back then if I was “only” cooking for myself.
However, the regular cooking and meal planning has become such a habit now that I know I’d continue doing it even if I was single. I like having homemade dinners and having enough left over to take to work for lunch. I also like knowing exactly what kind of ingredients are going in my meals. :)