Serves 4
Total time: 1 hour (plus cashew soak. 30 minutes if using canned butternut.)
Active time: 20 minutes
Whether you’re lugging them home from the farmer’s market, or plucking them out of your backyard garden, October means it’s time for butternut everything. If you’re a butternut maniac like I am, then this is good news. But perhaps in your zealous lust for the creamy orange flesh you’ve come down with a severe case of Butternut Burnout ™.
Yes, butternut in your breakfast, soup, muffins and in your salads…it has taken its toll. No more sweet gingery autumnal goodness, you say. No more spicy warm cinnamon goosebumps. Butternut Burnout ™ means a steady diet of kale and chocolate forever more or at least until Spring.
However, there is a way to combat BB. And that’s by treating it with savory elements, rather than sweet. This Roasted Butternut Alfredo is sure to combat all of the damage done to you by those butternut waffles. The squash is roasted first, and then pureed with cashew cream to make a thick, autumnal sauce, that is lush, creamy and most importantly, savory. White wine, some sauteed onions and garlic…oh yes, keep it coming. Butternut forever! Butternut for life!
Notes
~ An average butternut weighs like 3 lbs. You don’t need that whole 3 lbs for this recipe, but you should roast the entire thing anyway. To roast, Preheat oven to 425 F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a large chef’s knife, cut the the round part of the butternut from the long part. Slice the round part in half and scoop out the seeds. Brush or spray parchment lightly with oil and place squash pieces, cut side down, on the baking sheet. Bake for about 45 minutes, or until squash is very tender. When cool enough to handle, scoop out the squash needed for this recipe. Save the rest for whatever you like: soup, muffins, or just mashed up with some ginger, maple syrup and cinnamon.
~ You can make this with a can of butternut or pumpkin puree, too. Of course you won’t have the roasted squash to put on top, but them’s the breaks. It will still be yum.
~ You can also make this with any winter squash, I’d imagine. Pumpkin, delicata, acorn, kabocha….all good choices.
~ I like to have extra sauce to serve with veggies and stuff. If you have no such need, then this sauce will probably be sufficient for an entire pound of pasta.
~ I would have loved to use fettuccine or linguine here, but I didn’t have any. I ended up using strozzapretti, but that’s a bit hard to find. Fusilli would be a great choice, or a smaller pasta like orecchiette. I can see penne working, too! What I’m trying to say, I think, is that this is a great sauce for any kind of pasta.
~ As always, you can soak cashews overnight. Or soak em all day. Just try to remember to soak ‘em in advance so that you’re not waiting for the cashews to make the recipe. If you have a Vitamix or Blendtec type million dollar blender, well, luck you! You can skip the soaking step.
Ingredients
1/2 pound pasta (see note)
Sauce:
1/2 cup cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours
1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups roasted butternut squash (see note)
2 tablespoons mellow white miso
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast (optional)
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
For the rest:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, quartered and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dry rubbed sage
3/4 cup dry white wine
Several dashes fresh black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
For garnish:
Extra roasted squash
Pepitas, or chopped pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts
Directions
Once the squash has roasted, bring a salted pot of water to boil for the pasta. When boiling, cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside.
Meanwhile, drain the cashews and place them in a blender with the vegetable broth. Blend until very smooth. Rub sauce between your finger and when hardly any grittiness remains, add the roasted butternut, miso, nutritional yeast (if using) and lemon juice. Puree until smooth, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to make sure you get everything.
While the sauce is blending, start the onions. Preheat a large cast iron pan over medium heat, saute onions in olive oil and a pinch of salt for about 7 minutes, until lightly browned. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so, just until fragrant. Mix in the sage and pepper. Then add the wine and salt and turn the heat up to bring wine to a boil. Let boil for about two minutes, to reduce a little.
Turn down the heat to medium low. Now add the butternut cream to the pan, and stir to incorporate the onions and everything. Heat through, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes. The sauce should thicken a bit. Taste for salt and seasonings.
Oooh, creamy!!!!
Set aside some of the sauce (you can reserve a cup or so for veggies if you’d like to throw some on top.) Add the pasta, and toss to coat. Serve topped with additional roasted squash and a sprinkle of nuts.
We recently gave up dairy and eggs after being lifelong vegetarians. The kids have been good sports but still occasionally miss the cheese and cream. I made this last week and my eleven year old said it was way better than the real alfredo sauce (a previous favorite) because it is so rich and creamy. That said, I’d love to make a bucketful. Has anyone tried freezing it? I dream of having a freezer with stashes of this sauce and the nacho cheese sauce. What else would anyone need? Thanks so much!
5 years later, i’d love to know whether it un-freezes well. Because i have a laundry basket of butternut and acorn squash, and i’m inclined to take a day to just process it all, rather than spending the time to hack it up every time we want alfredo sauce.
Can I use dry roasted cashews or do they have to be raw?
You can! The cashews will have a more pronounced taste but it will still be creamy and delish.
@ Barbara, I don’t drink alcohol either but I can’t think of any alternative for this recipe so I just bought some dealcoholised wine and used that. There is a tiny bit of alcohol left in it but it should evaporate during cooking. The recipe was amazing, I have just finished a bowl right now!
Any suggestions for a good substitute for the wine (non-alcoholic)? Thanks!
Use vegetable broth and a lil splash of balsamic vinegar. Or, just vegetable broth and maybe a little extra lemon juice.
Can’t wait to try this! My family has a few people with wine allergies (no grapes)– do you have a recommendation of a substitute for the white wine in this recipe? Thanks!!
I made this last night for dinner and it was a H I T ! ! ! !
Called my neighbour down to grab a bowl because I was so proud. I didn’t have lemon juice but used apple cider vinegar instead. I finished it with some leftover cubed squash, fresh torn basil and sprinkle of smoked salt. Next time, i think I’d add toasted pine nuts or some of he other nuts that were suggested.
I reserved a generous cup of the sauce for loaded baked potatoes tonight… that sauce is FOR REAL DELICIOUS 🙂
We sprinkled chipotle over this & it brought it to a whole new level!!!
Sounds good!
I made this tonight with whole wheat angel hair for a dinner date with my husband, and it was absolute perfection. I’ll definitely be making this again — next time, I’m going to add something green to the pasta (spinach, asparagus, tiny broccoli florets?). Awesome, awesome, awesome meal! 🙂
this was the BEST DINNER EVER! I made it with roasted pumpkin because that’s what I had. It was so good, the whole time I was eating it, I kept saying to my hubby “this is soo good. isn’t this so good?” I sauteed some kale with garlic & white wine & then added it with the sauce so we had some greens in there too..it was AMAZING! Once again, you are a culinary genius..:) Thanks for sharing it with the rest of us!
This is the kind of awesome that keeps me vegan. This is even better than Mac and Shews. I added broccoli and toasted walnuts on top. I almost added 1 1/2 c of wine. Then I caught myself and have some to drink with my lovely dinner.
I just made this and it was unreal! I used mirin because there’s a hurricane on and booze conservation is of the essence. I roasted a bunch of veggies in the oven at the same time as the butternut so we had sides of roasted cauliflower, beets, and Brussels. Yum.
This was delicious! I used vegetable broth instead of the white wine, and forgot to add the lemon juice (will do for the leftovers). I poured the sauce atop brown-rice macaroni noodles, the hugest bunch of rainbow chard I’ve ever seen, 4 chopped carrots, and some baked cubed tofu. It’s a whole meal in a bowl, and it’s amazing!! Yum yum yum!
I usually don’t make a recipe for my omni family unless I’ve tried it first but this looked so good I didn’t want to wait. Everyone loved it. My father even told me to give the recipe to my mom! The sauce is definitely enough for a full pound of linguine, even more if you thin it a bit. The best part is that I have squash left over to make it again this week if I want 🙂
I made this last night and it was sooooo amazing straight from the pot…. then straight from the microwave at work, too! Thanks a bunch!
So I might be eating leftovers cold out of the fridge… delicious that way too!
instead of using cashews i could totally just use mimicream, yeah? next time! i just thought of that. i don’t know why mimicream doesn’t exist everywhere. i guess i am lucky. anyways, i am making this tonight! thanks!
Yes, that works!
Let’s say I’m incredibly lazy and just want to buy pre-cubed squash from Trader Joe’s…how much would I need?
Around the same amount! I mean, maybe minus and ounce or two.
Isa,
I just finished with the creamy CREAMY sauce and before I pour it all over my pasta, I just want you to know that this recipe restored me to myself tonight. It all comes together beautifully in that “Be Our Guest” kind of way. And that opened bottle of Chardonnay, well…it ain’t gonna drink itself.
Seriously though, nice work. This recipe is definitely going somewhere on my holiday menus.
Thanks for the warm fuzzies!
This is, as expected, excellent!
This is so amazing! Tasted great with back added too 🙂
*Bacos that is. Stupid auo correct :p
Ok. So. I may or may not have gone slightly overboard at the market and bought enough squash to cover half of the top of my fridge. I am currently eating this amazing alfredo sauce over spaghetti squash. I’m having a squashgasm. Thank you, Isa! So tasty and the texture is to die for.
Thank you, Isa, for another amazing recipe!! I used roasted delicata, and while I fell a bit short of 1.5 cups (bc I shamelessly nibbled), it was still absolutely delicious. I topped it off with toasted pine nuts, mmm. If you’re not averse (or allergic) to wine I strongly recommend its inclusion; it gives the dish a really nice depth. I might just have to make this the vegan main at my family’s Thanksgiving feast!
Isa this was so yummy! Thanks!!! I used acorn squash and tripled the black pepper and added a bit more sage. My sauce had slightly sweet undertones, and I think this may be due to the wine? I don’t cook often with wine, so I just used ‘cooking wine’ that was in the fridge. But next time. I will be a bit more choosy about my wine 🙂 What do you think?
Two thumbs up!! I will make this over and over again.
I made this the other night, and it was amazing. Loved loved it. Made it with a pound of pasta and the sauce was the perfect amount. Thank you for posting!!
I made this for tonight’s after trick or treating meal, but I may or may not have snuck a few bites already. Delicious!!! I’m so happy I made enough for lunch tomorrow too because it was amazing.
This looks great! I am thinking of making this for Thanksgiving- if I make the sauce a day ahead and reheat, then toss with freshly cooked pasta before serving, do you think that would work ok?
The sauce was so beautiful and creamy I couldn’t help thinking as I stirred it “I would like to bathe in this sauce” It is a very comforting dish 🙂
I was thinking a savory creamy sage squash dinner sounded perfect for this cold fall night, so I went to PPK and searched ‘squash’ recipes. Yours came up first and I’m so glad it did. Savory? Yes. Delicious? Absolutey. A late night trip to the supermarket was out of the question, so i ended up subbing unsoaked *gasp* walnuts for cashews, used the 2tsp of dijon and extra salt/nutritional yeast instead of miso, and added sliced mushrooms in with the onions, and peas to the final sauce, garnished with sunflower seeds. All of this aaaand I used an acorn squash instead of butternut. Still, the perfect fall dinner. Thank you!!
This looks tempting! Thank you so much for all the yumminess, richness and variety you bring to our kitchen and lives! I’m going to try it for Shabat tonight! I’m a bit confused due to all those “non-alcohol” questions as I have a little son. I always thought alcohol evaporates during the cooking process anyway…?
I’m looking forward to try this new receipe and you’ll be with us when we light the candles tonight, Isa. <3
Made this last night: FANTASTIC! Used dijon mustard in place of miso, and it worked fine. We put it over whole wheat rotini. The extra butternut on top is the piece de resistance!
I really enjoyed this dish. Thanks for the recipe!
You are a genius! This was amazing <3
What would you substitute for cashews for those with all nuts allergy?
Prepared this delish dish tonight and hubby and I loved it! Truth be told we and the baby almost ate the whole thing! (Mostly we and a 12oz box of pasta! There is still enough for lunch tommorrow with a nice salad and sauce for veggies.) I prepared it with the pepitas and the roasted butternut on top. (Modifications: I had no miso or sage so I added a tsp. more salt in place of the miso and dried rosemary for the sage.)
Thanks Isa and BTW I love the website and your book, “Appetite for Reduction”
I made this last night without the miso-didn’t have any. I subbed 2 tsps of dijon and added an extra dash of salt. It was very good. I liked it a lot. I’ll have to try it again with miso. I’m definitely going to use up the leftovers.
I made this recipe a couple days ago and me and the family enjoyed it!!! I felt the optional nutritional yeast really tied the sauce together so that’s my only suggestion. I have a feeling this will be in decent rotation every fall when butternut squash is everywhere!
This was a big hit at dinner last night. it’s our new favorite pasta dish.
I have made this twice now since you posted it and it is, without a doubt, the best food I have ever eaten.
Just made this, using a pound of pasta with all of the sauce. Loved it! Creamy, with a subtle butternut and cheesy taste. So good.
You are a genius. The white wine, the caramelized onions, the creamy squash and cashew…I LOVE this dish. I dream about it. I have made it twice now and it will be a fall staple for sure! Thank you Isa!!
This recipe is fantastic, thank you so much.
This is the most delicious recipe of all time! My boyfriend and I devoured it, and I loved the way it made my apartment smell… All winey and butternutty and wondrous. I served it with shells so each bit of pasta was full of sauce. It basically brought tears to my eyes.
This is unbelievable. So delicious. You are a genius!
This is fantastic!!! I made it at a vegan brunch I hosted this Sunday and it was a huge hit.