Roasted butternut squash pasta sauce

I haven’t shared a recipe in a while, so I thought I would share one of my favorites,Roasted butternut squash pasta sauce.

While I love squash in general, it’s not such an easy sell for all of my kids. One loves it, one will tolerate it, and the other says it’s too gross to eat and why am I so mean for cooking that?

There you go.

All three will actually eat this. Amazing, I know. And it freezes well, so double bonus. I think what helps is the cheesy, garlicky goodness that adds to the squashes flavor. It’s not so “squashy” tasting. It’s vegetarian though if you wanted  some meat, you can add a nice chicken and kale sausage . I also like to serve this with  a hearty whole wheat spaghetti pasta, but gluten-free would work nicely too.

The hardest part is peeling the thing. 🙂 In fact, since that is the hardest part, I recommend making  a double batch and freezing the rest so you don’t have to peel one again

for a really long time. 🙂

And I like to pick a medium to large sized squash with a  nice, deep, even color. Make sure it doesn’t have any  soft spots.

I also use dried sage, but fresh is much better. If you are using fresh sage, cut the amount in half. Also, if you happen to not have any fresh garlic, you can use garlic powder.

Roasted butternut squash pasta sauce.

Serves 6.

Prep time 20 minutes

Cooking time 30-40 minutes

You’ll need:

1 medium butternut squash,peeled and seeded, cut into even, half-dollar size pieces.

olive oil

6-7 large cloves of fresh peeled garlic

1 medium onion cut into chunks

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (for in sauce)

1/2 cup shaved Parmesan (for garnish)

2 TBSP sage (dried)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 pt chicken stock

cooked pasta

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

In the mean time,

Carefully half the squash removing the very top and bottom,remove seeds and pulp, peel,and carefully cut into uniform size chunks.

Toss cut squash, onion chunks, and whole garlic cloves and sage in olive oil  in a bowl until coated and spread on baking sheet. Cook at 350 degrees until all veggies are browned and slightly caramelized but not burnt.Occasionally turning.

Carefully add all veggies,1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese to large sauce pan, and add 1/2 cup chicken stock. Use  an immersion blender, adding remainder of chicken stock to blend until it’s a smooth sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with cooked pasta until coated and sprinkle/grate nutmeg and Parmesan cheese over the top.

Enjoy!!!