Since I am now unofficially off bedrest (my doctor said I could do whatever I wanted at 36 weeks....I am a day early, so sue me!), I decided to go back to my old ways and cook a tasty dinner. We were lucky and have been eating dinners that my MIL had made while she was here 2 weeks ago and then had my Dad cooking last week. I should also add that Ken made a great spaghetti sauce the other day too!
Anyhow, this morning we went to the farmer's market and I thought I would try some sausage from one of the local farms and use it for dinner tonight. I paged through some of my cookbooks and found a recipe to draw some inspiration. I tend to get bored of using the same recipes and need to try new things so I flipped through a new Italian cookbook that I have, "La Mia Cucina Toscana" by Pino Luongo. I have not tried any recipes yet as they are a bit involved but I probably will do so soon after my attempt today. I based my dish for the most part on his recipe for Pappardelle with roasted butternut squash, crumbled sweet sausage and sage. Pappardelle is a kind of pasta by the way. I decided to use polenta instead and changed the sauce a bit as well. Both Ken and I agreed that the result was pretty tasty. I also used some of the lettuce I bought at the market to make a great salad to go with it along with a yummy vinaigrette based on one of Rachael Ray's recipes. Try it and see what you think!
Butternut squash, sausage and sage over polenta
3-4 cups butternut squash cut into 3/4" pieces
4 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 bay leaves
1 tbsp brown sugar
4 sage leaves
salt
pepper
1 lb sausage (I used spicy but the original recipe called for sweet)
1/2 c. dry white wine
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
1 1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 c. polenta
Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Mix squash, olive oil, sugar, bay leaves, sage together in a medium bowl. Salt and pepper to taste. Place squash on a rimmed cookie sheet and bake for 40-50 minutes or until soft.
Brown sausage over medium heat. Drain fat then add wine and let it evaporate, about 3-4 minutes.
Boil 3 cups water. Lightly salt the water. Add polenta slowly while stirring constantly with a whisk until it resembles a creamy porridge. Add 2-3 tbsp parmesan cheese if desired.
In another pan, melt butter over medium low heat. Add flour and mix together to make a paste. Cook about 1 minute. Add milk slowly so that you don't get lumps. Salt and pepper to taste. Add parmesan cheese. Once squash is finished, remove bay leaves, then puree about 1 cup in food processor or blender. Add about 1/2 c. or more water to make puree smooth. Add puree to the bechemel (white) sauce. Mix remaining squash with sausage.
I served the sausage and squash over the polenta and spooned the sauce over top. Yummers!
36 weeks and counting!
