Ingredients
- 10-12 oz ziti or rigatoni noodles, cooked al dente
- 1+ lbs sage sausage (it's very hard to find; Willy's only sells it at Thanksgiving, but their breakfast sausage has some sage so I use that; you can also use sweet italian)
- 1/2 onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced (yes, you can use it from the jar)
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 sage leaves, chopped (I use twice that since I never have real sage sausage; fresh sage is absurdly expensive, but VERY easy to grow in a small pot. Totally worth it if you have a sunny spot.)
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- pinch cinnamon (like half the 1/8 teaspoon)
- 1/2 cup dry white wine (like chardonnay)
- 1 cup vegetable stock
- 15 oz. can pumpkin puree
- salt & pepper
- 1/4 + cup grated Parmesan
Equipment
- Large pot & colander for pasta
- Large, deep cast iron skillet (or dutch oven... but serving would look a little odd cuz it's so deep)
- Large mixing bowl (optional)
- Recycled can (for grease)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Start cooking your pasta and set aside when done.
- Brown the sausage in the skillet over medium high heat until sausage no longer pink. (PROTIP: Measure out the sage, redpepper, cinamon, and nutmeg while sausage is cooking and set it aside in a small dish so you can dump it in at a moments notice later.) Scoop the sauge out and set aside. You only need a thin coating of grease in the pan for the next step. (Seriously... it's tempting to leave it, but you can definitely have too much of a good thing here.) Drain excess grease into a can to discard.
- In the same skillet, add onion, garlic, and bay leaf. Cook until the onion is tarnslucent, about 3 minutes. Add the sage, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Cook another minute.
- Add the wine (pour in slowly cuz it spits) and cook until reduced by half. Keep the heat at medium high. Add the stock and stir in the pumpkin puree. Mix thoroughly. The pumpkin will thicken the sauce.
- Stir in the sausage. OPTIONAL STEP: Transfer everything to the large mixing bowl and toss together with the pasta until thoroughly mixed. Then Transfer back to the skillet. Otherwise, just risk spilling everything all over the stove top but mix it in the skillet. I use both methods depending on my mood.
- Top with Parmesan and bake for 25-35 minutes until bubbly.
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