Cookerati

I had some great butternut squash just waiting for me to find the time to do something great with it. I put off using squash because it takes a while to seed and peel, but it’s such a terrific ingredient.  I found some soup recipes, but it wasn’t what I wanted.  So I came up with a pasta dish that was really tasty good, and hopefully good for you.  The only change I’d make is to cook the butternut squash a little bit less.  I used about a 1/2 of a butternut squash, and probably I should have used only a half a pound of sweet italian turkey sausage.  There were three of us at dinner, plus enough leftovers for two people, so cutting down the sausage makes sense.  There isn’t a lot of fat in this dish, but I can’t tell you how many calories or fat since I don’t know.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup pecan pieces (cut up pecans, not ground)
• 1 tbs butter
• 1/2 butternut squash, seeded, peeled and diced
• 2tbs + 3 tbs olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tsp sage (Dried leaves crumbled)
• 1/2 to 1 lb of sweet italian turkey sausage
• 1 onion diced
• 1/2 campanelle pasta
• salt
• pepper
• 1/4 cup grated parmesan + more for the table

Directions:

Melt butter in a large sauce pan, then add pecans and toast until lightly browned. Place the pecans in a bowl and set aside.  Add 3 tbs of olive oil to the pan and when it is warmed, add the squash and the garlic cloves.  Saute until al dente.  If you like if soft, go for soft.  Ours was a little softer, but still really delicious.Remove pan from heat when it is ready.  At the same time heat 2 tsp oil in pan, then place turkey sausage and onions and brown.  On one more burner, place a pot of water to boil for the pasta.  When the sausage is almost ready, dump the pasta into the pot.  Drain the sausage and the onions, slice the turkey sausage so that it’s about the same size as the squash.  Drain pasta and dump everything into the pot and stir.  In the pan that had the squash, add a little butter and turn the heat on low, then add 1/4 cup white wine and simmer.  Pour into the pot with everything else, add in the parmesan and fold everything together.

You can probably substitute the pasta for another type, this is one I bought because it was interesting looking and it worked out well for this meal.