This hearty pasta dish celebrates the flavors of Fall and Winter with a combination of sweet balsamic roasted butternut squash with fresh sage, savory Italian chicken sausage, baby spinach, and crunchy toasted walnuts. This is a perfect warming meal for a weeknight meal or dinner with friends.
6 cups (28 ounces) medium diced butternut squash (1/2 inch cubes)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, or more to taste
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh sage leaves, sliced into thin strips
12 ounces fully cooked sweet Italian chicken sausage* (about 5 links), sliced on a bias
1.5 cups chopped walnuts (6 ounces)
1 lb whole wheat pasta (rotini, penne, ziti, etc.)
2 cups (2 ounces) fresh baby spinach, coarsely chopped
Optional: grated Parmesan cheese or Pecorino cheese
Nonstick cooking spray
*can swap sausage with white beans for vegetarian modification
Preheat oven to 425F.
Place diced squash on a large rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Gently toss to evenly coat squash. Season with salt and pepper, add 2 tablespoons of the sliced sage leaves and toss once more to combine.
Roast for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, bring pasta water to a boil and prepare other ingredients; prepare a second baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray and add sausage to it in an even layer, have chopped walnuts and spinach set aside in separate bowls.
After squash has been in the oven for 20 minutes, remove it from the oven and put the second baking sheet with sausage in the hot oven. Gently stir the cooked squash while out of the oven and add the chopped walnuts to the same baking sheet. Return squash, now with walnuts, to the oven and bake another 10 minutes while sausage continues to warm.
Meanwhile, cook the pasta about 1-2 minutes less than package directions, reserving approximately 1 cup of pasta water before draining.
When squash, walnuts, and sausage all begin to brown, remove them from the oven.
Return cooked pasta to the pasta pot and add roasted squash, walnuts, sausage, reserved pasta water (start with 1/2 cup and add more if necessary), baby spinach, and remaining tablespoon of sage to the pot and turn heat to medium. Gently stir to combine all the ingredients continue to cook for about 2 minutes to finish cooking pasta and wilt the spinach. When liquid has been absorbed, pasta is fully cooked and all ingredients are warmed through, divide among 8 bowls and serve while hot.
Top with grated cheese if using (if cheese is added, you may want to slightly reduce the salt used in the recipe since cheese will add saltiness).
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