Ingredients
1 pound cupped or tubed pasta, Orecchiette or Penne
½ pound Hot Italian Sausage, (without casings)
2 tablespoons Extra-Virgin Olive Oil, plus more for the pasta
2-2½ pounds peeled Butternut Squash, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
Salt and Pepper
6 tablespoons Unsalted Butter
10 Sage Leaves
½ cup grated Parmesan, plus more for garnish
Roasted Pine Nuts, for topping
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook butternut squash for 25-30 minutes until roasted. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil.
Meanwhile, cook the sausage: In a Dutch oven or skillet large enough to hold all the pasta, add the sausage until cooked through. Remove sausage from pan and drain fat.
Add pasta to boiling water, and cook to al dente according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and drain the pasta.
Cook butter until golden, nutty smelling and foaming, just a minute or two. Add sage leaves for about 30 seconds to a minute, until they begin to get crispy. Remove sage from pan and remove the pan from the heat and add back the sausage. Cut sage leaves and cut into strips. Add back in to pot.
Add the pasta to the pan and mix with the brown-butter sauce (if the pasta has cooled off quite a bit, return the pan to low heat while you combine everything). Stir in the cheese, then add pasta water as needed to smooth the sauce. Adjust with salt and pepper, and serve with extra Parmesan, if you like.