Butternut Squash Tagliatelle With Crispy Sage
This was the result of this weeks fridge forage and I have to say that I was pretty pleased with it!
I’ve heard people waxing lyrical about using butternut squash to make a sauce for pasta and they often say that it’s a healthy take on a carbonara. But you guys - it isn’t. You know me well enough by now to know I’m not going to lie to you. Is it delicious? Sure! But does it taste like carbonara? Nope.
For the sauce we essentially made a really delicious butternut squash pureé - which would be delicious inside ravioli - and then I loosed that with a little bit of stock and some pasta cooking water. I think the crispy sage leaves are key and the parmesan and toasted pine nuts take it up a notch too.
Remember as with everything to keep tasting as you go along - some squash can be quite sweet so you need to keep tasting and seasoning to make sure it’s all on point.
- Yield: Serves 2
Ingredients
(may make extra sauce but you can always freeze it and turn it into an excellent soup)
1 small butternut squash, peeled and cut into cubes
1 onion, chopped
1 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 veg stock cube
180g dried pasta
handful of sage leaves
handful of pine nuts, toasted
grated parmesan
Olive oil, salt and pepper
Instructions
Fry the sage leaves in a little olive oil. They really only take 3 seconds or so - then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and sprinkle with salt.
Then fry the onion and garlic in the oil for 5 minutes or so until lovely and soft. Remove these and set aside.
Use the same pan to fry the butternut squash. It will take 15-20 minutes. Ideally you want it lovely and golden on the outside but soft to the touch when you poke it with a knife. Keep an eye on it and give it a shake every couple of minutes.
Once the squash is cooked - bung it in a food processor with the onions and garlic and blitz it up! add 1 cup of boiling water - with the 1/4 veg stock cube and whizz it all together again. It will take a good few minutes but it will go lovely and creamy.
Keep tasting to test the seasoning.
Cook the pasta in boiling salty water. Save 1 mug of the cooking water so you can loosen the sauce.
Add 1/2 the sauce, loosen a little with the water and add more sauce if you want it. You dont want it drowning in it - but it’s up to you what you like. I dont want to boss you around.
Pile onto plates, top with the crispy sage leaves, toasted pine nuts and grated parmesan and lots of black pepper.