Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Andouille Sausage

Squash IT!

OK, here we go. I sent my sous-chef, (aka) Big Goo to the store and told him to make sure to bring back veggies. Well I already told you about Big Goo and his veggies when I cooked Smoked Pork Tacos. 

Let's just say, Big Goo and veggies don't always go in the same sentence. Well, too make a long story longer, he came back from the store with this big old squash.

I told Big Goo, what do you want me to do with this? Of course, being a man of many words, he said, "cook it.!" I told him, no, you cook it! And of course, we went back and forth, hey it's what we do, after twenty years, you will be doing the same thing.

Back and forth, back and forth. I told him, why did you buy it? He said, it's organic, just like you like, so start cooking. Finally, I told him, to get out my kitchen because you are fired and no longer my sous-chef.

Believe me, Big Goo feelings were not hurt, he said thank you, and went to lay on the couch, smiling of course.

Now enters, Baby Girl, I am not sure if I mentioned this, but my vegan loving daughter always has an opinion, I wonder where she gets that from.

OK I am guilty!

Well Baby Girl comes into the room saying ma', yes ma', when she is hungry I am ma' when she is full, I am mom.

So Baby Girl says, ma' I just looked it up on Google, it's like a pumpkin/sweet potato somewhat, so let's make stuffing.  Like you do when you make sweet potato stuffing for holidays.

Good idea, but no! I said, let's make pasta with stuffing, minus the bread, I don't want bread in my dish.  Don't get me wrong, I love bread, but not for this dish.

So now I cook. I peeled, diced, and roasted the squash with olive oil, creole seasonings, garlic powder, black pepper, onion powder and smoked paprika and a little dried thyme. 

I removed the andouille from the casing and sauteed them in a pan with the trinity of course, bell pepper, celery, onion and a little minced garlic.

And yes, I re-seasoned everything again, you gotta layer those flavors. And this is what we ended up with.

Pure deliciousness! Note I was suppose to add Parmesan cheese, but I didn't have any. I had Mexican cotija cheese so I used it, it looks like Parmesan to me.

OK, this was so good, I had to apologize to Big Goo for giving him a hard time for buying this big Squash.

OK, I am kidding, I did not apologize, but I did think about it. This is a new family hit, too bad I had to feed it to Baby Girl, minus the meat.

Don't forget she is "vegan."

Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Andouille Sausage
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Servings: 4-6

Roasted Squash:

1 butternut squash, peeled, diced into 1 inch chunks
2 tbsp. extra virgin Olive oil
1 tsp. creole seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
1/4 tsp. dried thyme

For the Pasta:

1 lb pasta, rotini, penne or your favorite pasta
1 lb. fresh andouille sausage, casing removed
1 small red onion, diced
1 small bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 spring fresh sage leave, minced
1 tsp. creole seasoning
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
extra virgin olive oil
1 c. cotija cheese or Parmesan cheese

Directions:

To prepare the squash. Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.

Peel, seed and dice squash into 1-2 inch chunks.

In a large pan add squash, toss with olive oil and sprinkle seasonings on top. Mix well and bake for 30 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to boil, salt, add pasta and cook for 6 minutes, or 2 minutes less before pasta is al-dente.  Remove, drain, rinse in hot water, drain again, toss in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil and set aside. Reserve about 1 cup of cooking water.

In a skillet, heat about 2 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat, add onion, bell pepper and celery, saute for about 5 minutes, add garlic and saute 1 minute more.

Add andouille sausage, breaking up with a spoon into nice small chunks, season with all the seasonings and cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally.

When sausage mixture is cooked add minced sage leaves, stir well. Add 3/4 cup of pasta water, mix well.

Add pasta and squash, top with 1/2 cup of cotija cheese and mix carefully.

Serve with remaining cotija cheese, enjoy.