a yummy fall pasta.

Okie-doke. Here's a lovely little autumnal dinner to make your tummies happy.
Farfalle with prosciutto in a butternut squash and sage sauce. (And, consequently.... the leftover "sauce" is like the best butternut squash soup you've ever tasted. Bonus.) (And, yes, it's a rich soup... but like I always say, the richer the better, eh? Eh. In fact, I will share with you a short anecdote on exactly how "rich" I like my soup... Whilst on our honeymoon cruise, Andy and I were enjoying a lovely lunch in one of the many buffets. I returned to the table, brimming with happiness at what I had found: cheddar cheese soup! My fave. After taking down one bowl, I went back for a second. Yes, people were looking at me a little strangely as I ladled that second bowl, but hey, they can kiss it, right. I mean, it was absolutely the richest, thickest, cheesiest goodness I had ever eaten. Well, needless to say, after lunch I felt gorged and stuffed and ready to head back for a nap. As we were walking out of the dining room, Andy commented, "Oh, hey, I didn't see that they had a nacho bar!" I froze, and nearly dropped a deuce right then and there. What I had mistaken for soup was actually nacho cheese sauce. Yes, that's right. I ate two, count 'em two bowl of nacho cheese. And yes, I just shared that with the world wide web. No shame here.)

I digress.... this is one super recipe!

Here's what you'll need:

1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons butter
2-4 fresh sage leaves
1 small red onion, finely diced
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
1/4 pound prosciutto, roughly chopped. (I used the thinly sliced, but you could get it cut thicker and then julienne it for heartier pieces.)
3 cups chicken stock
1/2 cup whole milk
1/4 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound box farfalle


To start, add the olive oil to a hot pot and add the prosciutto. Cook until crispy, and then remove and set aside. Add the butter, sage and onion and saute until the onions are soft. Add the butternut squash to the pot, season with salt and pepper and cook until squash starts to soften, about 5 mins. Add the 3 cups of stock and allow it to simmer for 10-15 mins. Drop your pasta into a large pot of well-salted boiling water and cook to package directions. Once squash mixture has cooked down, and everything is tender, remove the sage leaves and ladle mixture into blender (you'll probably want to do about 1/3 of the pot at a time, because it's hot and may splash out if overfilled). Add the parmesan and milk to the blender as well. Blend until pureed and then make sure to taste for seasoning. Once pasta is done, drain and return it to the pot.
Ladle in some of the sauce (you'll have a lot of it, so definitely DON'T dump it all or your little bow ties will be swimming! ...AND your gonna want that soup, remember.) Toss to combine. Plate it up, topping the pasta with the crispy prosciutto and a little sage garnish and some more freshly ground pepper and...
VOILA!
C'est magnifique, if I do say so myself!