One of the most memorable Italian dishes I've ever had was at my favorite Italian restaurant, Tucci Bennuch in the Mall of America. I had sweet potato gnocchi with a butternut squash sauce. It was amazing. I loved the sweet squash taste with pasta and "Italian flavor." I've contemplated making something similar many times (I actually made a great sweet potato pasta sauce once, yum).
I bought butternut squash ravioli at Trader Joe's and tried to think about what would accompany it best. I decided that it needed to be in the spirit of November, so I combined butter, toasted walnuts, dried cranberries and sage into a newly created sauce that was extremely rich is flavor. It was a perfect match and had a nice feel of fall with the natural sweetness of squash.
We decided that this is something that we'll have again and would love to make in the future with friends for a nice dinner.
Sauce (measurements are approximate, I didn't actually measure the ingredients):
1 stick butter
1 tablespoon sage leaves
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup toasted walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
salt and ground pepper to taste
