Brown butter and sage working together to flavor a creamy delicious Alfredo sauce served over noodles with roasted butternut squash.
Brown Butter Sage Alfredo
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I’m only one call away, I’ll be there to save the day, Super-mom’s got nothing on me; I’m only one call away.
Ah! Do you see that adorable chubby two year old hand stealing chunks of roasted butternut squash?! This is hands-down (well hands in the food actually) my most favorite food picture I have ever taken.
Y’all, she was trying to steal the food the entire time I was attempting to get pictures and I kept tickling her and fake scolding her and telling her to stop. But when I uploaded the pictures on to my computer and saw this picture… Y’all, I melted like a Popsicle on the 4th of July!
This Brown-Butter Sage Alfredo with Roasted Butternut Squash doesn’t sound it, but is in fact KID-APPROVED.
Super-Hero-Ninja to the rescue!
Dear Reader,
It is only fitting that I am writing this post today because today I was a ninja. For reals y’all, but not really. But I was a total superhero!
Let me tell you a story of my awesomeness!
Once upon a time I was sleeping; it was a terrible restless kind of sleep and I woke up at 5 am in an absolute panic. Waking up from an awful night in a panic is pretty normal for me; However, this time something was abnormal. This time when I woke up I felt like something was wrong in my home.
Grabbing my trusty pepper-spray and blow-dart gun, I slunk through the house like the Grinch who stole Christmas.
There was no burglar to be found, and no evil a lurking. However, my 6 year old was not in her bed. But then I noticed the bathroom light was on. I knocked and got no answer, so I cracked the door just a notch to make sure everything was okay. She has been known to fall asleep in odd places…
Anyway, what I found was not a narcoleptic little person snoozing on the john, but a terrified child whimpering as she had her entire body pulled up on top of the seat and was staring down at the floor in horror.
A scorpion!
Y’all, a giant scorpion was just hanging out right there on the floor of the bathroom waving it’s scary stinger tail at my baby girl who was too terrified to even call for help.
So what did I do?!
Now, you are probably remembering at this moment my claims of being a super-hero-ninja and you are connecting the dots to come to the conclusion that I round-house kicked that scorpion to outer space.
Oh reader, you have a great imagination but in fact you are wrong. I didn’t round house kick anything; I’m only a yellow belt and therefore haven’t learned how to round-house kick things.
I grabbed one of my tennis shoes and while doing a completely girly and very scared squeal-like-scream, I Hulk-Smashed the scorpion to smithereens. And then I pulled an awesome ninja move and one-two punched the air!
I am that freaking super-hero-ninja awesome!!!
Brown Butter, Crisped Sage, and Roasted Squash
What does that heroic story have to do with this Alfredo pasta recipe you may be wondering? Nothing, absolutely nothing. I am super proud of myself and wanted to tell the world about it. Ha!
I am also “super” proud of this pasta recipe and wanted to tell the world about it which is why I decided this recipe and that story make such a good pair.
Some quick notes to help this dish be a success in your household:
- The noodles. For this dish I love to use home made noodles. However, if I don’t have any pre-made and ready to go in the freezer then I don’t usually have time to make some. In which case a good linguine or fettuccine noodle works fantastic!
- Once your butter has browned, it can quickly go from a nutty amazing rich brown flavor to a burnt black. Don’t wait it out; Once it starts turning brown and you can smell that amazing deep nutty smell, it’s ready for you to add the white wine.
- Right before you add the wine, remove all but one leaf of the sage. They will be crisp by this time and are seriously one of the most delicious bites of crispy buttery scrumptiousness that you could ever imagine. Set the leaves aside on a paper-towel to serve atop the pasta when it is finished. If you leave the leaves in the pot when you add the other liquids, they will become rubbery.
- I semi-pre-cook the Butternut Squash in the microwave before chopping up and roasting. I do this solely to speed up the cooking time; it does not add or take away from the flavor at all. If you prefer to roast it entirely in the oven then that is great and will taste fantastic! Just be aware that this recipe will take longer than 20 minutes if done that way.
Enough talk, let’s eat!
Recipe for Brown Butter Sage Alfredo and Roasted Butternut Squash:
Save RecipeIngredients
- 1 Butternut Squash
- 1 lb Pasta, boiled to al dente then drained and rinsed in cold water
- 4 TBS Butter
- 6 Leaves Sage
- 4 Garlic cloves, peeled and smashed with the flat of your chef's knife
- 1 cup white wine
- 1 3/4 cups Water
- 2 Chicken Bullion Cubes
- 1 cup Cream
- 2 TBS Flour
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
- 1 TBS Brown Sugar
Instructions
- With a Fork stab the butternut squash 8-10 times, then place the entire squash in the microwave on high for 5 minutes.
- Preheat oven to LOW broil.
- When squash is finished in the microwave it should feel slightly tender.
- Cut very top off of the squash and then cut it off at the bottom of the neck as well. Using a knife, peel the skin off the outside of the squash neck.
- cut the meat into bite sized chunks.
- Then peel the outer edges off the fat end of the squash and cut it in half. Remove the seeds and cut the squash meat into more chunks. Discard anything that is too mushy.
- Place all chunks on a baking sheet and lightly drizzle with olive oil. Then sprinkle generously with the seasoning and brown sugar.
- Place baking sheet in the oven to roast for approximately 10 minutes, keeping an eye on it and even flipping some of the pieces as it goes. Remove when the squash is beginning to get some color around the edges.
- While the squash is roasting, boil your noodles and start your sauce.
- Place Butter, Garlic, and Sage leaves in a large sauce pan over medium-medium-high heat.
- Shuffle the pan back and forth a bit as the butter heats and cooks.
- When the butter is turning a hazelnut brown color and is starting to get a deep nutty smell,
- Remove all but one of the sage leaves from the pan and immediately add the white wine.
- Raise heat to high and bring to a light boil. Let simmer for 2 minutes, then add the water and chicken bullion.
- Bring pot back up to simmer, then reduce temperature to medium and let it cook down to almost half of liquid. About 7 or 8 minutes
- In a bowl, whisk together the cream and flour,
- Slowly whisk the flour-cream mixture into the Brown Butter concoction cooking on the stove.
- Reduce the heat to med-low and let it simmer until ready to add noodles and serve.
- To serve, add noodles to the pot of sauce and stir until they are well coated.
- On each plate, place a serving of the Pasta and sprinkle with the Roasted Butternut squash pieces. Top the entire dish with a crisped sage leaf and serve immediately.
- Enjoy!
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For those of you looking for the secret I shared with the newspaper and mentioned on Instagram:
We have 5 wire whisks at our house and only one of them is used for whisking! Haha! Visit my About Me page to learn what the others are used for…
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