Pumpkin Alfredo Tortellini with Sweet Italian Sausage

Helllloooooo!

Yes, I'm back.  It only took me a year and a half! In all seriousness, it's not that I wanted to stop posting on this blog, I just honestly haven't had the time. Between starting a new job, traveling a ton for work, and regular life getting in the way, this has just fallen by the wayside.  In the past, Eric would be working until 10 PM, so I'd have hours by myself to just cook and blog. Now, there's this fun thing called "spending time with your favorite human".  It's pretty sweet.

So! In the interest of actually keeping up with this, I have decided that the best way to keep myself motivated about posting is to keep it simple, stupid.  I don't have time to stage innumerable photos for every. single. step of the cooking process, or the time it takes to edit them, blah blah blah.  Which means that each post will likely only feature one picture of the final product, unless there's an intermediate step which is dying for a picture due to its complexity, or just my boneheaded screw-up.

Without further ado, here is my most favorite recent meal:

Pumpkin Alfredo Tortellini with Sweet Italian Sausage (modified from here)

What You'll Need

• One bag frozen cheese tortellini
• One package Sweet Italian chicken sausage (typically 4-5 per package)
• 15 oz. can pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1/4 cup shredded or ground Parmesan cheese
• 3 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp. garlic powder)
• 1/2 cup light cream or fat free half and half
• 1 cup low sodium vegetable or chicken broth, more as needed to thin the sauce
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper to taste

What To Do

Heat a large skillet on medium heat.  Using a sharp knife, slice the casings of each sausage open lengthwise and add the meat to the skillet. Discard the casings. 

On a separate burner, bring a large pot of water to boil. 

Cook the sausage for 5-7 minutes until it is evenly browned, draining any fat that comes out of the meat. Use a spatula to constantly chop the meat into small crumbles. 

While the meat is cooking, finely dice the onion.  After the meat is browned, add the onion to skillet and cook for another 3-4 minutes, or until the onion is translucent.  Add the pumpkin, broth, cream, and spices to the pan, mixing well to incorporate everything. More broth can be added as needed to bring it to your desired consistency. 

At this point the water should be boiling. Add the tortellini and cook according to the instructions on the package.  If you start them at this point they will be finished right when the sauce is completed. 

Cook the sauce for another 4-5 minutes until the sauce mixture is lightly bubbling.  Add the cheese and mix vigorously to help it melt. Serve immediately.

I served this with fresh steamed green beans. It may look like a steaming pile of orange cat food, but let me tell you - it. was. AMAZING.

I am a HUGE fan of pumpkin, especially in savory dishes, and as I've said before on this blog, I think it's highly under-appreciated.  I kept this sauce fairly thick, which worked well with the tortellini that have lots of nooks and crannies for it to disappear into.  This was my first time making it, so I followed the recommended amounts for the cinnamon and nutmeg, but after tasting it, you could definitely be more liberal with them without them getting overpowering. I think Eric was a little skeptical of how this would taste at first, but he cleaned his plate very quickly with lots of om nom nom noises, so I know it was a big success.  Another big plus is that this is a great meal to make on a busy weeknight as everything comes together in about 25 minutes.  Enjoy!