Sweet butternut squash tossed with pasta

As I said in the previous trout recipe, this is a nice adjunct to the fish. Read through the recipe and you will find your list of ingredients.

One good reason it works well with the fish is that you can do it in the same 450 oven that you are using to roast the trout (fish - whatever). The biggest pain here is the peeling, seeding and chunking of the squash, but its worth it, believe me. So preheat a cookie sheet for the squash as well.

Then, prior to starting the fish, peel (a vegetable peeler works really well here - Grandma could do it with a paring knife, but she had real skills), seed and chunk your squash and then toss it with a medium to large sweet onion, cut into 1-inch chunks, 2 big handfuls of spring mix, 1/3 packed cup of torn up fresh basil leaves, and about a dozen fresh sage leaves (also torn up), enough minced garlic to approximate 5 cloves, 1/3 cup good-tasting extra-virgin olive oil, a packed tablespoon of brown sugar (light or dark), and salt and fresh-ground black pepper (to taste). Some people add red pepper flakes (or not depending upon your own preference).

Pull out the oven rack holding the cookie sheet (carefully - remember its hot) and pour the vegetable mix onto the hot sheet and spread it out. This is going to bake for about 25 minutes, or until the squash is tender, turning the vegetables two or three times during roasting.

As the squash becomes tender, cook your bow tie pasta until its tender, but not mushy. Then drain it and set it aside.

Now here is the tricky part. Once the squash is tender, you will need to turn on the broiler to caramelize it. But you have to watch this closely. No cell phones, no kids in the kitchen, no mixing a martini. Its gonna take about five minutes. You can't focus for five minutes?? Your mother could do this in her sleep and she learned it from your grandmother. You need to turn the pieces often. Anticipate about 5 minutes under the broiler. You want crusty brown edges on the squash and wilted, almost crisp greens. But if a friend calls to talk about life, you're gonna mess this up and burn it, so be advised.

Okay, if you made it through this step without screwing it up, you have potential. Scrape everything into a big serving bowl. Add 1/2 cup of half-and-half, the hot pasta, and 1 cup of shredded Asiago cheese. Toss it to blend everything up, taste it to see if you want to add more salt and pepper, or you can add more of the cheese if you feel so moved. Serve this hot with the fish, or whatever dish you wish.