deceptively easy to make and perfect for this time of year

you will need

4 strips bacon (i used peppercorn encrusted bacon it adds a great kick)
about 1 cup of milk half and half or evaporated milk
about a half cup of canned pumpkin or fresh cooked pumpkin
(i have never used fresh pumpkin, i am sure that you will need more of the fresh pumpkin because it isn't as thick)
about 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese

a 1 lb box of rigatoni or other pasta of your choice

while the pasta is cooking

Start by cutting the bacon into 1/4 inch dice

cook in a small sauce pan until crispy drain off the grease reserve about half of the bacon, set aside for later

return pot to heat at slowly add the milk or cream scraping any stuck on browned bits from the bottom of your pot...ie FOND
(it helps if your pot isn't nonstick) cook at medium heat. stir in your punkin..if you find that the sauce is too thick add more milk, (you want it to be somewhat thin the cheese will thicken it further. It helps if you have more milk and pumpkin so you can adjust the thickness of your sauce.

drain pasta stir roughly half of the cheese into the hot pasta and add the other half into your sauce, again adjusting the consistency as needed with the pumpkin and milk or cream Salt and pepper to taste. usually the sauce is salty enough from the cheese. and i didn't have to add any pepper because it was peppercorn pasta
serve with the reserved cooked bacon and more Parmesan

NOT FOR THE LACTOSE INTOLERANT lol


enjoy and happy cooking