Spring has brought us chilly thunderstorms and huge amounts of rain. It seems our brief spell of summer is over so I pulled out one of my favorite fall dishes to make tonight. I love the simplicity of this dish, with only a few healthy ingredients, that wows with flavor and creaminess… without dairy!
I decided that I didn’t feel like cutting up the butternut squash so I bought the pre-cut pound of squash at the grocery store. I feel like that is the only time consuming part of the meal.
You will use a large pot and large, deep skillet for this dish that will be working simultaneously. The first time you make it, I suggest getting everything else ready before starting since the timing can be a little tricky. You will need to add some of the pasta water to the cooked squash to thin it so you need to have the squash done and in the pan before the pasta is done cooking.
In your large pot you will first cook the squash. When it is done, pull it out with a slotted spoon – don’t drain the water out! While the squash is cooking, brown and crumble the sausage in your skillet. Remove that to a plate with your slotted spoon.
You can either put the squash into a blender to smooth it or put it into a bowl and use a hand blender. You want it to be puréed nice and smooth.
Before you blend your squash, melt the earth balance in the pan from which you removed the sausage. Add the shallots and garlic to brown over a medium low heat. Add your penne to the pot of boiling squash water. Cooking according to the package for al dente. Once you add it to the sauce, it may cook a little more so err on the side of undercooked.
When the shallots and garlic are done, add your blended squash to the pan. Add salt and pepper to taste. Then add some water from the cooking penne to thin the sauce to your liking. I used about a 1 cup but start with a little less to see where you’d like it to be.
Once the sauce is thinned to your liking, taste it to see if you need more seasonings. Then add the spinach and sage and keep warm until the penne is cooked. Drain the penne and then add it to the pan.
Serve warm and try not to eat it all in one sitting. 🙂
Enjoy!
Keilee
Yields 4 servings
This creamy comfort food offers a rich butternut sauce complimented with sage and spicy sausage. You would never know that it is dairy free!
20 minPrep Time
20 minCook Time
40 minTotal Time
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Ingredients
- 16 oz spicy chicken Italian sausage (check label for sugar!)
- 1 lb butternut squash, peeled and chopped
- 1 tablespoon butter alternative such as Earth Balance
- 6 oz whole grain penne (brown rice, quinoa, chickpea, etc)
- 1/4 cup shallots, minced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups baby spinach, roughly chopped
- 4 sage leaves, chopped
- salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add butternut squash and cook until soft, about 10 minutes.
- As the squash cooks, cook sausage in a large skillet over medium heat until browned, crumbling while you cook it. When cooked through, set aside on a plate. Turn the heat down to medium low and add the butter alternative to melt.
- While the butter alternative is melting, remove cooked squash with a slotted spoon and place in a blender or bowl, blend until smooth with blender or hand blender.
- Add pasta to the boiling squash water and cook according to package directions for al dente, reserving at least 1 cup of the pasta water before draining.
- After the butter alternative is melted, sauté the shallots and garlic until soft and golden, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add puréed butternut squash to the pan, season with with salt and pepper.
- Add a little of the pasta water (I used about 1 cup) to thin out the sauce to your liking.
- Add chopped spinach, cooked sausage, and sage to the pan and combine.
- Once the penne is cooked, drain it, add it to the pan, and mix gently until coated.
- Serve warm.
Notes
Original SkinnyTaste recipe modified for dysbiosis patients can be found here: https://www.skinnytaste.com/pasta-with-butternut-sauce-spicy/