Have you noticed butternut squash ravioli with crispy sage on restaurant menus? It seems variations of the dish are prevalent everywhere, from fine dining restaurants to bistros. Even our local beachfront spot has a delicious appetizer version with sautéed mushrooms.
Well, the other day, I craved that brilliant pasta combo and wanted to make it at home. When I have a craving, the one thing the dish has to be is fresh. Now that presented a problem.
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I didn't have half a day to make homemade squash-filled ravioli. How could I have all that goodness without spending hours cooking?
So, I started thinking about what I really love about the plate. There is the sweet roasted flavor of butternut squash. Chewy pasta complimented by a creamy sauce or filling is also key. Crispy brown butter sage that pops in the mouth is essential.
Now, what about the pasta itself? Granted, the noodles need a toothsome bite and a clean background flavor that doesn't compete with all the other delectable elements. But then, who says it has to be ravioli?
That's when it dawned on me. Hey, I can do this! All that was needed was to redesign the dish with a quick-cooking artisan pasta.
Now you can enjoy this perfect pasta too. The delicious fettuccine swims in a sweet, luscious, butternut sauce. Each pleasing mouthful has a chewy mushroom morsel. Did I mention the delicate crunch of smoky brown butter sage? Mama Mia!
The most time-consuming part of the dish is roasting your butternut squash. However, you can make it easy by baking your squash ahead of time. Or, you can use the baking time to assemble the other ingredients and start the pasta sauce.
Trust me, you are going to love this new version of a winning dish.
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📖 Recipe
Crispy Sage & Butternut Squash Fettuccine
Ingredients
Homemade Almond Milk For Sauce
- ¾ cup raw almonds
- 1 ¾ cups water
Sauce
- 1 cup mashed oven-roasted butternut squash
- 1 tsp. sea salt
- 1 pinch white pepper
- 3 TB plant-based butter
Pasta
- 8 oz. dry artisan fettuccine
Topping
- 3 TB plant-based butter
- 3 cups gourmet mushrooms, like king oyster, white beech or shiitaki like king oyster, white beech or shiitaki
- 2 cloves garlic
- 40 small fresh sage leaves
- salt to taste
Instructions
Homemade Almond Milk
- Cover almonds with boiling water and let sit 1-2 minutes. Rinse in cool water and slip skins off the almonds.
- Place peeled almonds in a high speed blender with 1 ¾ cups water. Blend on high for two full minutes. Place a colander over a bowl. Line the colander with a thin cotton tea towel and pour in almond milk. Gather up the sides of tea towel and squeeze and wring cloth to extract all the almond milk. Toss out the almond pulp.
Sauce
- Rinse blender and pour homemade almond milk back in. Add roasted butternut squash, salt, butter and pinch of white pepper. Blend until mixture is silky smooth.
- Pour sauce into a saucepan and bring to a boil stirring frequently. As soon as sauce thickens, reduce heat and keep warm while cooking pasta and topping.
Pasta
- Bring 4-6 quarts of water to a boil. Add a little salt and a dash of olive oil. Cook pasta until al dente. Rinse in very hot water and drain.
Topping
- Mince garlic or grate unpeeled cloves on the fine end of a box grater. Slice large mushrooms into pieces and leave small ones whole.
- While pasta cooks, melt 3 tablespoons of butter in a skillet. Add sage leaves. Cook while stirring over medium to medium high heat until butter begins to brown and sages leaves are crispy. You can test the leaves by taking one out and letting it cool on a paper towel. They will be soft just out of the pan, but turn crispy after a couple minutes cooling. Take care not to burn the butter.
- Take skillet off heat and spoon sage leaves onto a paper towel.
- Return skillet with brown butter to stove. Briefly saute mushrooms, garlic and salt to taste in brown butter over medium heat.
Finish
- Pour hot butternut squash sauce over cooked fettuccine. Toss lightly. Place fettuccine on 4 plates. Divide sautéed mushrooms and crispy sage equally between the plates.
Notes
- Store-bought almond milk will not work for this recipe. Making it from scratch ensures that the sauce has superior flavor, richness, and the right consistency.
- I recommend imported artisan Italian fettuccine for the pasta.
- Make sure your sage leaves are small and perfectly dry before adding to melted butter.
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