Butternut Squash, Sausage & Spinach Pasta Toss
Butternut Squash, Sausage & Spinach Pasta Toss
Author: The Blue Jean Chef, Meredith Laurence
Serves: 6
Here's a super tasty weeknight pasta. The ricotta nestled in at the end gives a delicious creamy finish to a hearty winter pasta.
Ingredients
- 1 pound dried rotini pasta
- 1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
- ½ Vidalia onion, diced
- 2 cups diced butternut squash
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 4 cups fresh baby spinach
- salt and fresh ground black pepper
- 1½ cups ricotta cheese
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
Instructions
- Bring a large stockpot of salted water to a boil. Cook the pasta according to package directions until it is just tender. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water before draining the pasta.
- Pre-heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the sausage and cook, breaking it up into bite-sized chunks, until it is no longer pink. Remove the cooked sausage from the pan with a slotted spoon and set it aside. Add the onion and butternut squash to the pan and stir to coat with the fat from the sausage. Add the dried sage. Sauté for a few minutes to brown the vegetables. Add the chicken stock and deglaze the pan, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom of the pan. Bring the liquid to a simmer, cover and cook for 3 to 5 minutes, until the squash is soft.
- Return the cooked sausage to the pan and add the baby spinach. Add the hot pasta to the pan on top of the spinach and toss to combine until the spinach has wilted. Add ½ cup of the reserved pasta water to loosen the pasta, adding more if necessary. Season with salt and fresh ground black pepper.
- Transfer to a serving dish and immediately dollop ricotta cheese over the pasta, nestling it into the pasta. Garnish with the chopped sage leaves and serve immediately.
