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Brown Butter Butternut Squash Pasta with Sage

This brown butter butternut squash pasta with sage features butternut squash roasted with miso and garlic, a vegan brown butter sage sauce, crispy shallots, fried sage, and almond parmesan. It's a comforting crowdpleaser with layers and layers of flavor and texture that are so simple to put together!
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Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 30 mins

Ingredients
  

Roasted Butternut Squash

  • 1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cubed *approximately 3 cups of cubed squash
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp white miso
  • 3 garlic cloves, smashed

Brown Butter Pasta

  • 20-24 oz. rigatoni pasta or pasta of choice *this made quite a bit. If you would like to reduce to 16 oz. pasta, that would also work well.
  • ⅓ cup vegan butter
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
  • 30 sage leaves
  • salt to taste

Toppings

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 shallots, thinly sliced
  • 20 sage leaves
  • lemon zest, red pepper flakes *optional
  • 1 recipe of almond parmesan (linked in instructions)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400 °F. In a small bowl, mash the garlic with the miso and olive oil. Microwave for 30 seconds and brush onto the squash. Roast butternut squash for about 25 minutes or until fork tender.
  • Cook pasta al dente according to package instructions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water. If not tossing the pasta with the brown butter sage sauce immediately, rinse with cold water to stop it from cooking further and add a little olive oil to prevent it from sticking together.
  • Add butter to a pan over medium heat. Let it melt completely before adding garlic. Stir for 2 minutes. Add walnuts. Cook until the butter is brown and the walnuts are golden. This should take about 4-5 minutes.
  • Add 30 sage leaves to the buttery sauce. Cook until the leaves are shriveled. 
  • Add ~ ¾ cup pasta water. Lower heat and add pasta. Toss in roasted butternut squash. Check for salt.
  • To a separate pan over medium heat, add 2 tbsp olive oil. Add shallots and cook until crisp and dark. Remove the shallots from the pan and place them on a plate lined with a paper towel. Then add the remaining sage leaves to the shallot-infused olive oil. Cook until crisp, so about 4-5 minutes.  
  • If you're interested in making the almond parmesan (highly recommend; it takes 2 minutes!) you can find the recipe here.
  • Serve with the fried shallots, sage leaves, and almond parmesan. Optionally, add some lemon zest and red chili flakes!