3cupsgourmet mushrooms, like king oyster, white beech or shiitakilike king oyster, white beech or shiitaki
2clovesgarlic
40 smallfresh 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
Ingredient Tips
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.