This pasta is basically fall on a plate and I am here.for.it. The sweetness of the butternut squash paired with the nuttiness of the brown butter fried sage and toasted hazelnuts make for a pretty dreamy combo. This dish would be perfect for Friendsgiving, Thanksgiving or really any gathering. You can’t go wrong!
With the unexpected appearance of rain today, this soup turned out to be the perfect dish. It’s simple and comforting with a slightly gourmet twist. Though fairly easy to make, the soup is time-consuming. If you’ve caramelized onions before, I’m sure you understand. But, we all know the final product is well worth the wait–sweet and buttery onions that melt in your mouth. The addition of fried sage leaves and sage butter gave the soup that extra boost of flavor and complexity it needed.
Now the only thing that would make this soup even easier to make is an immersion blender. I’ve already asked Santa for one this year. :)
I came across this recipe on Epicurious and was instantly sold. How can you say no to fried sage? I tweaked the recipe a bit, adding toasted hazelnuts cooked in brown butter. I remembered how well the hazelnuts and sage worked together in the homemade butternut squash ravioli I made (here), and thought they’d offer a nice contrast in textures.
The pasta turned out flavorful and delicious, with just the right amount of bite from the sage leaves. Adding toasted hazelnuts topped off the dish, as they provided an extra dimension of flavor. I gobbled up the leftovers pretty fast.
Hope everyone has a wonderful Memorial Day weekend! I’ll be spending the long weekend at home with family, then in Palm Springs with some good friends. My boss decided to give us a half day at work today, so I’ll get an early start on the weekend–kicking it off tonight at Glee Live with my mom for her birthday. I’m sure I’ll gush all about the show at a later date. :)
Every Thanksgiving, I always look forward to the homemade butternut squash ravioli made by the host, Kitty. The pasta is absolutely delicious. My mom randomly bought two butternut squashes and told me to decide on something to make with the squash. Since we hadn’t made homemade pasta dough in a while, I thought it would be fun to use the squash to make my favorite ravioli.
I searched online for potential recipes and chose Bobby Flay’s butternut squash ravioli with a brown butter and sage sauce. I know Bobby’s recipe are typically more gourmet and time-consuming, but I was ready to take on the challenge. Although the entire process of cooking the squash, making the filling, sauce and dough took more than a few hours, it was more than worth it in the end.
Making the dough from scratch made all the difference. The tenderness and smoothness of the ravioli was delectable when paired with the delicate butternut squash filling. Drizzling the butter and hazelnut sauce over the ravioli boosted the flavor tenfold.
Initially, I was hesitant about adding chipotle sauce to the filling because of its heat. However, after tasting the filling without the spice, I realized that the orange flavor was too sweet. The two teaspoons of adobe sauce balanced the sweetness of the orange—Bobby Flay really does know what he’s doing.
Eating this pasta increased my anticipation for Thanksgiving. I can’t wait to indulge in this savory dish again next month!
Although it’s still over eighty degrees in California, it is September, which means I’m ready for fall and everything it has to offer—from food to clothing to weather. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my summer days of bronzing in the pool and donning shorts and tank tops. But I get to a certain point when I’m ready to eat some hearty meals and pile on layers of clothing (well, not too many since I live in CA).
My eagerness for fall inspired me to make some sort of healthy but satisfying soup. I decided on butternut squash, since I’ve never cooked with the fruit before and love its flavor. I didn’t realize how tedious it was to cut, peel and seed a squash until preparation time. It took a bit of muscle to peel the outer skin, which I struggled with a bit.
However, once I peeled and diced the squash, the rest of the prep work was quick and simple. Even though this recipe doesn’t call for many ingredients, it still has a rich and savory flavor that had me hooked from the first spoonful.
I used a recipe by Giada and tweaked a couple of measurements and details. The result was an absolutely delicious meal, just as I had hoped.
