Pasta With Creamy Pumpkin Sauce (From Everyday Food)

This looks great and easy enough for a fall weeknight! The original recipe called for rosemary, but I am a big fan of pumpkin and basil! This is a great light dinner, or a good side dish. Update: Thanks to Amaze-Ing Me, I went back and tweaked the sauce a bit to make it even better! Update: I made this quicker after needing to rush for dinner one night--you can't even tell the difference! I also added some poached chicken to make it a real one dish meal and it was great!

• Ready In: 25 mins
• Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 12  ounces penne pasta or 12  ounces  other short pasta
•  kosher salt
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 1 (15 ounce) can  pure pumpkin puree
• 1⁄2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1⁄2 cup  whole milk or 1⁄2 cup half-and-half or 1⁄2 cup  whipping cream
• 1⁄4 cup apple cider
• 1⁄2 cup  grated parmesan cheese
• 1  tablespoon sherry wine vinegar
• 2  teaspoons dried basil
• 3  dashes nutmeg
• 1  dash cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon white pepper, to taste
• 1  teaspoon salt, to taste

Directions

1. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling, salted water until al dente. (I generally use 4 qts of water with 2 Tbs kosher salt.) Drain well, reserving 1 1/2 cups of the water. Sprinkle with olive oil and toss.
2. Over medium low heat, mix pumpkin puree, garlic, milk, apple cider, parmesan, vinegar, pepper, salt, basil, nutmeg, and cinnamon, and 3/4 to 1 cup of pasta water to pot. Stir sauce until heated through--5 to 10 minutes.
3. Check sauce seasoning and add additional salt to taste.
4. Add pasta and sauce to pasta pot and toss to coat. If sauce is too thick, add some additional pasta water.