Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Garlic

Autumn is here and with it some of my favorite ingredients are showing up at the local farmers markets.  This is a great way to use some of the gorgeous butternut squash that are plentiful this time of year.

Ingredients:

• 1 (1 lb.) butternut squash, peeled, seeded and sliced in 1/2″ slices
• 1 head of garlic, papery skins removed
• olive oil
• 3/4 c. walnuts, roughly chopped
• 10-12 large fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
• 3-4 slices of good quality bacon,  diced
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter
• 4 oz. fresh goat cheese
• salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 lb. pasta of your choice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.   Place butternut squash and garlic cloves on rimmed baking sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and toss to coat well.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Roast in preheated oven 20-30 minutes or until garlic cloves are soft to the touch.  Remove and set aside and turn off oven.

While squash and garlic are roasting, boil water for pasta.  Fry bacon pieces in saute pan until crisp.  Drain off all but 1 T. bacon grease.  Add pasta to water and cook according to package directions.  Over medium heat, add butter to pan with bacon and cook, stirring constantly, until butter turns a light, golden brown.   Add sage leaves and let them get crispy in hot butter.   Add walnuts and stir for about 1 minute, then carefully add in squash and garlic, stirring to coat all well.  Drain pasta and reserve 1/2 C. of the pasta cooking water.  Remove squash mixture from heat, and carefully add to the pasta, adding in the reserved pasta water and additional salt and  pepper to taste.    Toss to coat pasta well and distribute sauce ingredients well.  Place on a serving platter, and crumble goat cheese over top.  Enjoy!