Pumpkin pasta sauce is one of those dishes that I saw mentioned in a couple places and I thought “meh” and left it at that.  It sounded to me like a gimmick, and I tend to avoid recipes that combine foods that are too close in color (strange, I know, and I almost had to put this sauce on whole wheat pasta just to avoid the beige pasta and light yellow sauce colors blending so much, but I’m glad I didn’t, the whole wheat pasta would have had too strong a flavor). So I was very pleasantly surprised when I decided to try my hand at making a pumpkin sauce and it turned out fantastic! This dish got lots of compliments from everyone, so I hope you will enjoy it too. Sorry there is no picture of the finished product – it got eaten so fast I didn’t have a chance to run for the camera!

Step 1:
Bruise 6 fresh sage leaves with the back of a knife and then tear them into large pieces.  Peel 2 cloves of garlic and smash them with the blade or back of a knife until they are falling apart.  Put the sage and garlic in a small saucepan with 1 cup of heavy cream. Heat this mixture on low for about 15 minutes, stirring often.  Then turn the heat off and let the mixture sit while you prepare the pumpkin.

Step 2:
You could use canned pumpkin for this recipe but the fresh pumpkin makes for a really nice texture.  I used about one small (maybe 7 inch diameter) baking pumpkin . Halve the pumpkin and remove the innards and seeds, then cut the remaining pumpkin into i inch square pieces, removing the rind. Steam these pieces until very tender.  The transfer them into a bowl and add a sprinkling of salt and pepper and mash with a potato masher until they are a smooth consistency.  Measure the pumpkin mixture. You will need about 1 cup pumpkin, so put the rest aside to use somewhere else (or you can use a little more pumpkin, if you want).

Step 3:
Strain the cream mixture, removing the pieces of garlic and sage.  Add the cream to the 1 cup of pumpkin mixture and mix well.  Mince about 4 sage leaves and stir them into the pumpkin mixture, and taste. Add salt and more pumpkin if desired.  At this point, you can mince and sautee in butter the pieces of garlic and sage that were soaking in the cream if you like, and add them to the cream mixture once cooked.  Doing this adds another dimenstion of taste. I don’t think its necessary for a good result, just another nice variation.

Step 4:
Cook a pound of pasta (I used rotini) and drain.  Stir about half of the pasta into the sauce and mix.  Then keep adding pasta and mixing until the ratio of sauce to pasta is waht you want.  I used about 3/4 pound pasta for the sauce, but you may want it less or more saucy.   Once you have the right amount of pasta, stir into it 1/4 cup grated parmesean cheese.  Transfer to a baking dish and grate a little more cheese on top, and then cook, covered in foil, in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes.  Remove the foil and continue cooking until the cheese on top is golden brown. Serve immediately.