Pasta with Sausage, Pumpkin and Saffron

Yesterday, after baking several batches of cookies and drinking enough espresso that I had the energy level of a personal trainer but the attention span of an 8-week old kitten, I struggled to put together an edible dinner.  All the grocery shopping I did this weekend was done with the intention of baking cookies - I'd completely neglected real food!

Here is a summary of the contents of my refrigerator:  2 eggs, leaf lettuce, parsley, half an onion, whipping cream, hot sauce, butter, gin, vermouth, one link of hot Italian sausage, half a pumpkin, a log of doggie biscuit dough, and a bottle of Prosecco that I'm saving for the day my writing pays the bills (thankfully, Prosecco has a fairly decent shelf life). 

Turning this motley mix of condiments, booze, and random food items into a meal was a dilemma requiring a little creativity on my part.  I knew I could combine the sausage and pumpkin with some kind of pasta, but how would I make it interesting and flavorful? 

I was up to the task.  The hot Italian sausage from DiPaolo & Rossi's is bold and flavorful, so it doesn't need much treatment to shine.  Butter and olive oil, parsley, onion, a splash of vermouth, and a pinch of saffron at the very end were all I needed to make a quick, gorgeous meal. 

Pasta with Sausage, Pumpkin and Saffron

2 cups short pasta shapes
2 T. butter
1/2 pound hot Italian sausage, sliced into 1/2" thick rounds
1/2 small brown onion, sliced into rings
2 c. cubed cooked pumpkin
1/2 c. dry vermouth
1/4 c. chopped parsley
pinch saffron threads
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
splash olive oil


Cook the pasta in boiling water.  In the meantime, melt the butter in a large, heavy-bottomed pan over high heat.  Add the Italian sausage and the onion.  Cook, stirring regularly, until the sausage begins to brown and the onion begins to caramelize and turn brown.

Add the pumpkin to the sausage and the onions.  Stir for about 30 seconds, then add half of the vermouth.  It will evaporate quickly in the hot pan; stir quickly and constantly to scrape up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.  Turn the heat to low, then add the remaining vermouth, parsley, saffron, salt and pepper, and olive oil.  Stir constantly for about 2 minutes to scrape up any remaining browned bits from the pan, then cover and simmer for approximately 10 minutes, stirring once or twice.

Once the sausage and pumpkin mix has simmered and the pasta is cooked, add the cooked pasta to the pan with the sausage and pumpkin.  Stir for a minute or two so that all the pasta is coated.  Serve immediately.