Penne with Roasted Winter Squash, Sage and Red Cabbage

I have a new crush. It's better than my crush on the cheese monger. It's on a new cookbook. Or perhaps on the cookbook author. I haven't really decided yet. But I am smitten, that's for sure.

Who would have thought that I'd find a cookbook author who includes the broccoli stems in her recipes. She has recipes that include pestos (pesti?) made from carrot greens. She uses spinach crowns in pasta dishes....she told me what spinach crowns are and that they are delicious. And just when I thought I couldn't possibly come up with any interesting way to use up red cabbage that I hadn't tried a million times before, she swoops in to save me with no less than three creative, delicious red cabbage-based (or red cabbage easily subbed into) recipes. Two of which I made last week.

Apologies to Mark and Heidi, it's been a good long romance between me and your cookbooks, but there's a new go-to cookbook on my shelf. At least for dinner. Or if I don't want soup. (Ok, you guys are still up there, but...you know...) It's Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. It was a Christmas gift from D's aunt and uncle (theoretically for both of us, I believe he's picked out about three things that he'll "maybe eat if they don't look weird after [I] make them").

I actually modified this recipe quite a bit. Originally the base was gnocchi, but I wasn't feeling up to making them. I thought about buying them at the store, but discovered that store-bought gnocchi are no longer found in the refrigerator or freezers sections of the grocery store. They are vacuum packed and placed on shelf. When did this change? Maybe it's just me, but shelf-stable fresh pasta seems a little weird. In fact, it seems downright freaky. I (obviously) decided to forgo the shelf-stable potato dumplings and go for some whole wheat penne instead. The recipe also originally called for radicchio. I decided to use red cabbage because (1) I had it in the fridge, and (2) it's the same color, it will probably be fine. Thankfully, it was. The dish looked beautiful and tasted wonderful.

On a completely unrelated note, I neglected to take a picture of my vegetable delivery this week, but I got carrots, potatoes, beets, onions, butternut squash, celeriac, frozen tomato puree, frozen green beans, frozen collards, plain yogurt, mango yogurt smoothie, cheddar cheese, and sundried tomato marinated mozzarella. Yum.

Penne with Roasted Winter Squash, Sage and Red Cabbage
Adapted from Vegetarian Suppers from Deborah Madison's Kitchen


The neck of one medium butternut squash, peeled in cut into 1" cubes
1 clove of garlic, minced
12 fresh sage leaves, finely chopped
3 T olive oil
8 oz dried whole wheat penne
1 small head red cabbage, cored and cut into thin ribbons
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375.

Toss the squash cubes with the garlic, sage and 1 1/2 T of the olive oil. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20-30 minutes, tossing once or twice, or until tender and golden.

Meanwhile, cook the cabbage in a large skillet with the remaining olive oil, seasoned with salt and pepper, until tender, 5-7 minutes. Set aside.

Cook the pasta according the package directions. Try to time it so it's done just after the squash comes out of the oven. Reserve some of the cooking liquid when you drain it.

When the squash is done, place it in the skillet with the cabbage. Toss (if you need to reheat the cabbage a bit, place the pan over low heat while you do this). Add the pasta and a couple tablespoons of the cooking liquid. Toss again. Taste to adjust the seasoning.

Serve topped with a bit of Parmesan cheese, if desired.

Serves 4