Sunday Night Supper: "Pasta" with "Sausage" and Squash

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Sunday night was the end of a long, active weekend.  We were hungry, early, too lazy to go out and either eat or buy groceries.  So it was up to me to concoct a dinner out of what we had around the house.  So...hungry lead to pasta and garlic bread, but what to put in the pasta?  I had some Field Roast apple and sage sausage in the fridge, gluten-free pasta in the cabinet, some butternut squash left over from that soup the other day, some frozen, organic lima beans, a loaf of whole wheat sourdough from the Union Square Farmer's Market, and some top notch olive oil.  So, poof, it was dinner.

Richie was really skeptic about the squash and pasta thing, but was pleasantly surprised.  So pleasantly that he had 5 helpings.  I kid you not!

Here's how I did it:

  1. In a deep pot I boil enough water and a good helping of salt for the pasta.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large cast iron pan I browned 2 "sausages" in 3 tablespoons of olive oil.  (Instead of cutting the sausage I like to break it up with my hands.  It gives it a more textured, "ragu" feel.)
  3. With the sausage I added some chopped onion to caramelize.
  4. As that cooked I chopped then added the butternut squash.  I cut it small enough to cook through pretty quickly.  Maybe apx. 1/4" cubes.
  5. I add 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt and mix.
  6. As that cooks together, I cook the pasta along with the lima beans (you can also use green peas here) according to the package instructions.
  7. Once the pasta and beans are cooked I strain them and add it all to the sausage mixture.
  8. Cook together on medium heat until combined.  Depending on how you like your pasta, at this point I'd add a bit more olive oil and sea salt.
  9. Serve with some garlic bread.