Creamy Butternut Pasta With Spicy Sausage And Spinach
Butternut squash blended into a creamy sauce with spicy sausage, spinach and sage. Tastes indulgent, behaves itself.
Ingredients
- Kosher salt
- 1 lbbutternut squashpeeled and chopped
- 10 ozcasarecce or penne pastawheat or gluten-free
- 11 oz(4 links) spicy Italian chicken sausage*casings removed
For the sauce
- 1 tbspwhipped butter
- ¼ cupminced shallots
- 3garlic clovesminced
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cuproughly chopped baby spinach
For serving
- 2 tbspfreshly shaved Parmesan cheeseplus more (optional) for serving
- 4fresh sage leavesthinly sliced
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the squash and cook until tender, 18 to 20 minutes. Scoop it into a blender with a slotted spoon, add ¼ cup of the cooking water and blend until smooth. Keep that water. It's about to cook your pasta too.
- Bring the water back to a boil, add the pasta and cook to al dente according to the package. Save 1 cup of the pasta water, then drain.
- Set the empty pot over medium heat. Add the sausage and brown it, breaking it into small pieces with a wooden spoon, 4 to 5 minutes. Move it to a plate.
- Turn the heat to medium-low and melt the butter. Add the shallots and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft and golden, 5 to 6 minutes. Pour in the squash purée and season with ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper to taste. Stir in ¾ cup of the pasta water to thin the sauce, adding more if needed. Stir in the spinach, Parmesan and sage, then add the pasta and sausage and toss until everything's coated. The spinach wilts in about ten seconds. Blink and it's done.
- Serve with extra Parmesan on the side, if you like.
Kitchen's closed The sauce thickens as it sits. Reheat leftovers with a splash of water and they come right back to life.