Pasta with Butternut Squash, Browned Butter and Almonds

In northern Italy’s Emilia-Romagna and Lombardy regions, Christmas means pasta with velvety pumpkin and almond-rich amaretti cookies. Inspired by this holiday classic, we developed a weeknight-simple dish featuring similarly warm, comforting flavors. To start, butternut squash is roasted partway, then blanketed in Parmesan; as the cheese hits the hot squash and pan it crisps up and browns enticingly. Fresh sage provides earthy depth, while toasty browned butter and almonds replicate the cookies’ nutty-sweet notes. Pasta shells do an excellent job of catching bits of squash and nuts for satisfying, texture-packed bites, but other small curved or ridged shapes like orecchiette or campanelle work wonderfully, too.