Creamy Pumpkin Pasta with Sausage & Kale

I am so excited to realize a long term dream of mine and finally branch out into making cooking videos! I’ve now got a TikTok account and will also be adding a YouTube channel in the near future.Of course I have watched loads of these short form cooking videos, to learn the most popular format (also because I can’t resist learning about new foods). 

Lately I’ve been seeing a fabulous trend: creamy, silky pumpkin pasta sauce. In some instances this is created by combining pasta water with pumpkin puree and in others the puree is thinned by cream. I’ve decided to go the cream route, as well as incorporating some white wine. To balance the sweet I’ve added kale and to heighten the decadence of the rich, creamy sauce I’ve added mild Italian sausage. The anise in the sausage brings out the lightly sweet notes in the kale and is a fabulous compliment.  If you like a bit of crunch you could  add toasted pine nuts over top of the finished dish.

Creamy Pumpkin Pasta with Sausage & Kale

Ingredients

6 ounces chopped kale, stems discarded

1/4 cup chopped shallots

1/2 cup white wine

1/2 cup cream

1/2 cup (reserved) pasta water (see method)

1 lb sweet Italian sausage

1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree

1 lb thick spaghetti or bucatini

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

Salt, to taste

Pepper, to taste

For serving: 

Fresh parmesan

Chopped Parsley

Toasted chopped nuts

Method

Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to the boil. Meanwhile, In a large, heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat, add olive oil and sausage. Once the water is boiling add pasta and cook according to package directions. Break up sausage into small bits and saute until thoroughly cooked, scoop out sausage into a bowl and set aside, leaving the fat in the pan. In the fat saute shallots until starting to brown, then add kale. Saute until kale begins to crisp lightly, then add wine and pasta water to deglaze. Once kale is cooked to your liking, scoop it out into the bowl with the sausage, leaving liquid and fat in the pan. Turn heat to low, add pumpkin and cream, stirring to combine. When the pumpkin is combined, reintroduce kale and sausage and add pasta and toss to combine thoroughly. Serve hot topped with grated parmesan, chopped parsley and toasted nuts (if desired).