Roasted Butternut Squash, Sausage and Orecchiette Pasta in a Brown Butter Sage Sauce at Home

There are only a handful of recipes that make me close my eyes and moan while I eat them. Right off the top of my head there’s these Lemongrass Squares and then there was this bbq pheasant recipe (which may have freaked some of you out but I entirely love it). Now I can add this ditty to the stack. I may even put it on the quite top!

This method genuinely should be called Autumn-in-a-bowl. It is warm, toasty and smothered in butter with a hint of sage. Today, dinner simply sort of happened. I had the pasta for a while now… then a week ago, I spied these chicken sausages at the grocery store, so I threw them in the cart {go-to $6 I ever spent}… then stumbled on the butternut squash at the farmers market down the road two days later. The whole brown butter sage sauce and walnuts thing was all I could think about for weeks, and needed to pour it over something, and short. So I made pasta. And I sprinkled it with walnuts. Then I died… and went to heaven.

Excited yet? I am!

To get it done and out of the way, quickly toast the walnuts in a dry pan over medium heat until fragrant. Snack on a few and set aside.

Peel and cube up enough butternut squash to equal two cups or so. Because my squash was so HUGE I only used the top portion and saved the rest for something else.

Toss the cubed squash in a bowl with salt, pepper and the tablespoon of dark brown sugar.

Now the trick I have for you here is to stick your pan in your oven while it’s preheating to 375 degrees. Spread out the squash on to the hot pan, you should hear a little sizzle-sizzle.

Stick it back in the oven for 20 minutes or so until the squash is tender. By doing this you shouldn’t have a problem with the squash sticking to the pan. Genius. I know. Simply remember to put your oven mitts back on when you place them into the oven to cook. Ouch!

Meanwhile sear up the chicken sausages on all sides.

Remove…

Slice them up…

Then add them back into the same pan to brown and get all crispy again.

Next measure out 3 cups of the orecchiette pasta.

Then pour the pasta into the salted boiling water and cook, as the package directs, to al dente. Drain. Straightforward.

Next in a large mixing bowl; add the cooked pasta, chicken sausage and roasted butternut squash.

Next get out a stick of cold butter, I cut mine in half but you don’t have to.

Then I had a 10-inch pan heating on medium-high for a few minutes, and when I knew it was smoking hot I dropped in the butter, lifted and swirled the pan around… then added the sage. I used 8 or 9 small sage leaves. The butter should instantly melt down and turn a brownish golden color and bubble up.

When the butter is all browned, pour it over the ingredients in the bowl. Probably the simplest sauce I’ve ever made.

Then add in the toasted walnuts.

Next, toss to combine.

And then serve! I found that I liked mine with a little black pepper. I didn’t need any extra salt because of the salted butter, however taste and season to your liking.

During dinner my youngest showed me… this “worker” guy. 🙂

Enjoy! And if you give this Roasted Butternut Squash Sausage and Orecchiette recipe a try, let me know! Snap a photo and tag me on twitter or instagram!

My cookbook : 120 Wholesome Kitchen-made Recipes Made Straightforward is now available! CLICK HERE for details and THANK YOU in advance!