Alright, I know I have to brake out of this Butternut Squash rut I’ve been in lately, but please indulge me just one more time.  I promise it will be worth it.  This pasta dish that I literally threw together the other night was so delicious and healthy,  I need to share.  Very few ingredients and fabulous leftovers.  What’s not to love?

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup chicken stock

4 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 cup basil, chiffonade

4 Sausage links. You can use whatever you like, Turkey, Hot, Sweet and mixture. It’s up to you.

2 cups 1 inch cubed butternut squash

1/2 bunch asparagus, roasted until tender

4 cloves garlic, chopped

1/2 box/bag of 13.5 oz. Dried Pasta, whatever your preference.  I used Dreamfields pasta.  If you like more pasta, add a little extra.  It won’t hurt the recipe.

DIRECTIONS:

Toss cubed Butternut Squash in 2 Tablespoons olive oil, salt and pepper on a baking sheet. Roast in 350 degree oven for 30 to 40 minutes until very tender.   During the last 15 minutes of roasting, toss asparagus with oil, salt and pepper and add to the roasting pan.  Get your water boiling for the pasta while the veggies finish roasting.   Remove veggies when tender and set aside.

In a large skillet, cook sausage.  Remove when done and add a Tablespoon of oil or so to the pan (truly, I never measure).  Add garlic and cook until tender but not browned.   Add stock to pan to deglaze any of the sausage bits stuck to the pan and then add butternut squash, chopped asparagus and toss.  Finally add cooked pasta directly from pot to pan with pasta server and toss in fresh basil.  Finish off with a little Parmesan cheese.

The key to the flavor in this dish is good chicken stock.  I always have homemade on hand.  If you don’t, buy some quality stock, not the flavorless broth in the cans.  My chicken stock recipe is below.   This is my personal version.  I never measure anything and it turns out great every time.  If you’re like me and buy a roaster chicken from the grocery store or Costco practically every week, don’t throw away that carcass.  Trust me.  Homemade stock is so versatile.  I make soups, pasta, stews with stock.  You can freeze it too.  I have a pot simmering on the stove as we speak.

Chicken Stock Recipe: Throw your chicken carcass, picked fairly clean, into a large pot.  Fill the pot up with water until the chicken is 3/4 covered.  Add 1 onion roughly chopped, 2 celery stalks washed and roughly chopped, use the greens if you have them and 2 carrots washed and roughly chopped.  Add a 2-3 bay leaves, about 10 peppercorns and about a teaspoon of salt.  That’s it.  Just let it simmer until the stock is a nice deep tan/brown color.  I let it go for hours.  Strain through a sieve into a large bowl.   It makes the house smell great and produces a fantastic stock.

Are you a homemade stock lover?  If you’ve got a favorite recipe using homemade stock, we’d love to hear about it.  Leave a comment below.