The air outside is nice and crisp and the weather calls for comforting dishes like this yummy simple spaghetti. It’s filled with roasted butternut squash, roasted garlic, crispy sage leaves, hazelnuts and shaved parmesan.
In my last blog post I talked about my visit to the Kroger headquarters a few weeks ago in Cincinnati, OH for the food bloggers banquet. We finished the day with an abundant family style “Christmas in October” feast. Each blogger created a dish to share with everyone. This was the highlight of the trip for me. Not often do I get an opportunity to cook with people who love to cook, it doesn’t get any better than that. I might have made enough for 25 instead of 15, but leftover pasta is not a bad thing right?
The great thing about shopping at a Kroger store is that they are a one stop shop for all fresh produce. When I originally made this, I was able to buy already cut up butternut squash, which cut the prep time shorter. Also, they have a great olive bar in the stores, which has an amazing variety of olives, roasted veggies and my favorite roasted garlic, which is what I grabbed a container of for this recipe. I mean I think I buy that stuff every week. You can make so many delicious things using roasted garlic.
I decided to keep my dish full of fall flavors. The slightly spicy butternut squash added that little kick of heat and sweetness, the browed butter added it’s own nuttiness along with the hazelnuts. I also love adding crispy sage to dishes like this, because it adds an earthiness to the pasta.
Now I am excited to share this recipe with you guys. Let’s get started on this pasta, shall we?
ROASTED SQUASH, GARLIC, HAZELNUT & CRISPY SAGE SPAGHETTI
Ingredients
- 1 package spaghetti noodles
- salt, to taste
Roasted Butternut Squash
- 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch squares
- olive oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp cumin
- red pepper flakes
- sea salt, to taste
Toppings & Browned Butter
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- roasted garlic, to taste
- hazelnuts, toasted and chopped
- 1 package sage, de-stemmed
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
- parmesan cheese, freshly shaved
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450 F.
- Peel, deseed, slice your butternut squash and then cube into 1/2 inch cubes. (the smaller they are the faster they will roast.)
- In a baking pan, toss the squash with olive oil, I start with 2 tbsp and add more if needed, make sure the squash is coated well. Add your seasoning and toss well. Spread evenly so you don't have the squash overlapping. Roast for 30-45 minutes or until golden. Carefully toss half way to ensure both sides are browned.
- Start your pasta, bring water to boil, add salt to taste so the pasta has flavor. Cook according to your pasta package instructions.
- While pasta is cooking brown your butter by adding a stick of butter to a pan and on medium heat slowly brown it. Make sure to move it around every few minutes so it doesn't burn. You will see white foamy stuff come to surface, I remove that with a spoon by skimming it out of the pan. Turn the heat off and put to the side.
- Now you can add vegetable oil to a deeper pot and bring the heat up so you can fry your sage. How I test if the oil is ready is by throwing in a small sage leaf, if it starts to bubble around the leaf, you can add more leaves. Have a paper towel ready to add the leaves on there to soak up any excess oil.
- Chop your toasted hazelnuts to top off the pasta.
- Drain the pasta when it's done cooking. In the same pan add the browned butter, toss. Then add the roasted butternut squash, roasted garlic and gently toss together. Add to a platter or bowl. Top with fried sage, hazelnuts and freshly shaved parmesan cheese. Enjoy as a main course or a side dish for the holidays or any day of the week.
Notes
I hope you enjoy this. Leave a comment, tag my on social media with #lenaskitchenblog if you make this so I can see your creation. It’s such an easy dish to make.
I’m so happy to be able to network with other food bloggers and see what this awesome industry has to offer us. With so many changes around us there will always be great opportunities to meet people who will inspire you and help you grow.
I wanted to give a big thank you to Kroger for making this trip happen. Especially a big thank you to Andrew, Jorie and the amazing Kroger social media team. It was an absolute pleasure meeting all of you and spending time together! I look forward to the possibility of attending more events like this in the future.
This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Kroger. The opinions and text are all mine.
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