We eat loads of pasta at our house, and I’ve got to admit that I thought I’d tried just about every incarnation possible: linguine with sundried tomatoes & fresh mozzarella, pumpkin ravioli with brown butter, rigatoni with sausage and eggplant, spaghetti with roasted cauliflower & golden raisins, and orecchiette with sautéed kale are only a small sampling of the recipes in my regular rotation. But a pasta tossed with sauce made of shredded butternut squash lightly sautéed with sage leaves? Thought I’d died and gone to heaven when I flipped open to this beauty in last month’s Bon Appetit (an original pasta idea!) and over the weekend I finally gave it a try. Butternut squash and sage is one of those flavor combinations that takes two great-on-their-own ingredients and makes total magic when put together…especially when it involves sautéeing them in butter and tossing them with pasta and lots of parmesan. I shredded way more butternut squash in the food processor than I actually used, and it’s become one of my favorite ingredients to have on hand this week – thrown into lunchtime salads and even tossed into an Asian stir fry tonight for a little added sweetness. But it really shines in this Butternut Squash Strozzapreti…keep reading for the recipe.
Butternut Squash Strozzapreti
*serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 4 cups shredded butternut squash (I used the coarse grating attachment on a food processor)
- 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh sage
- 3/4 pound strozzapreti (or any tubular-shaped short pasta like penne or cavatappi)
- Kosher salt
- 1/2 cup Parmesan, finely grated
Instructions:
- Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water, stirring occasionally, until al dente. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup pasta cooking liquid.
-
Heat oil and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium. Add squash and sage and cook, stirring occasionally, until squash begins to brown, about 3 minutes.
-
Add pasta and 1/2 cup pasta water to squash and stir to coat. Cook over medium heat, adding more pasta water as needed, until sauce coats pasta. Stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan. Divide pasta among bowls; top with more Parmesan.
*recipe slightly adapted from Bon Appetit; photos by Camille
Looks delicious Camille! And so simple!
So happy you finally tried it!
Yes, and it was every bit as delicious as I’d dreamed!! 😉
Can’t wait to give it a try! I’ve made your cumin-roasted carrot and avocado salad twice over the last three days. What a delight!
Ada
Oh my gosh, isn’t it the best?! I’m completely addicted… I’ve tried so many different little versions of it! Glad you loved. xo
Oh boy! Does this look good! I also love those bowls! Where are they from? Your pictures are amazing Camille and you should include this one in your future cookbook!
Aww, thanks Desiree! They’re from HomeMint – absolutely love that deep shade of blue.
Do you cook squash before you shred squash?
sunny, there is no possible way you could shred cooked squash!!!!!! You would get a pile of mush.
Will try this ASAP!
Where did you get your bowls?
They are from HomeMint, but sadly I think they may have been discontinued… does anyone have a good source for something similar?
Could one use dried sage rather than fresh? I mean, would it turn out similarly enough?