Butternutty Autumn

If you've read a few of my blog posts you know how I love butternut squash. After a ramble in the hills this afternoon, we were hungry for something quick, especially since a baseball playoff game was about to start. A quick look through the fridge yielded a carton of fresh butternut squash triangnoli, kale, zucchini, and a hunk of butternut squash, part of which had already gone into last weekend's bean stew. Is it piling on to make a sauce with the same squash that's inside the pasta? Not when it's my favorite!

I diced the butternut into small cubes for a quick saute.

Next came onion and a single clove of garlic--the sweetness of the squash-filled pasta needs to take precedence. I let that get pretty brown before adding the diced zucchini.



I dropped the kale into the pasta water before it fully boiled, to take out any bitterness.

After a couple of minutes I drained and chopped it, then added to the other vegetables along with butter and a handful of chopped pecans and turned the heat down low.

The fresh triangnoli takes about 4-5 minutes to fully cook. I added goat milk yogurt to the vegetables for a little simmer, and then the pasta. It didn't end up wanting any salt.

This was a simple but super-delicious meal. With so few ingredients it doesn't necessarily merit it's own blog post, but this is more about finding what's in the fridge and figuring out how to pull it together quickly. Most pasta sauces have so much crap in them--sugar, sodium, generic flavors. This sauce hits several positive notes--fresh nutritious ingredients with flavors that enhance the fresh pasta rather than overwhelm it. The goat milk yogurt adds a lightly savory undertone--if you want a really creamy sauce just add more of it.

Kale and butternut squash are both sturdy enough to last a while in the fridge, so it's not a bad idea to keep them on hand. Kale pumps up the nutrition level with mild pleasant bitterness that, when unwanted, is more easily negated than with spinach. Butternut squash can take the place of potatoes in a breakfast hash, making a meal that will take you through the busiest Sunday morning chores. I buy a big one and keep hacking off sections of the long neck. It's easy to peel with a vegetable peeler.

I eat butternut squash year-round, but here in the fall season, everything seems to taste better with a little butternut.