Butternut Squash Fiorentine

I had to finish that bag of hand-made pasta that I used for my Oyster mushroom and spinach fiorentine, and while I was dreaming of food in class today, I thought I would experiment with the absorption pasta technique and use a pureed soup thinned with broth instead of just pure broth.

I picked up a carton of butternut squash soup at Trader Joe's and added that and some chicken broth to some onions I had caramelized in a pan with butter. Then I added the fiorentine pasta to the mixture and stirred it all until the liquids evaporated and the pasta was tender, 10 -15 minutes. After the pasta was cooked I took the pan off the heat and tossed in some parmesan cheese.

The result was beautiful, al dente pasta in a gooey, cheesy butternut squash "sauce". It was very much like butternut squash ravioli and brown butter in flavor, maybe even better, and a lot easier to make. If I had thought thouroughly about the dish ahead of time, I would have bought some fresh sage. I love crispy, fried leaves of sage on top of anything with butternut squash. Maybe succulent pieces of roast chicken in the pasta, or on the side. Yum!

I know it's not squash season quite yet and that everyone's big on eating local, seasonal foods, but I sure as hell wasn't going to wait till late summer to buy a squash to roast and puree myself. No, I am a hungry person with needs. Needs for the kind of comfort that only comes from a plate of squash-y pasta.