Sage Spaghetti with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Caramelized Onion Sauce, and Toasted Pecans

Sage Spaghetti with Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Caramelized Onion Sauce, Toasted Pecans, Goat Cheese and Brown Butter

I've always loved making fresh pasta. In fact, the first thing I cooked for my husband back when we were dating involved fresh pasta: Chicken Noodle Soup with tri-colored noodles (roasted red pepper, spinach, and garlic-herb noodles). That was before I had my trusty Kitchenaid stand mixer, my food processor, or my newest kitchen toy: pasta roller and cutters for my Kitchenaid. Back then, pasta making was an all-day ordeal. Roasting peppers, steaming and squeezing spinach, kneading and rolling pasta dough by hand, cutting pasta into somewhat uniform sizes... it was tiring! 

Now I can have fresh pasta cooking in under an hour, and we get to have it a lot more often. The first batch I made was sage spaghetti. Fresh herb pasta is easy to do and you can add pretty much any fresh herb you have lying around. Since I had sage, I was inspired by one of my favorites at the Brick Store Pub in Decatur; Pierogies with Browned Butter, caramelized onions, spiced pecans and fried sage. I had pecans, onions, sage, and of course butter. Instead of the potato filling used in the pierogies, I substituted a superfood, sweet potatoes. This time I used goat cheese because that's what was in the fridge, but I think next time I'll use fresh shaved parmesan instead. The goat cheese tends to overpower the other flavors. 

Sage Spaghetti

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3 eggs

fresh sage

Directions:

• Process sage in food processor until finely chopped, add flour and process 30 seconds. 
• Add eggs and blend until a loose ball is formed. It should hold together but not be sticky to the touch. If it's too sticky, add flour 1 tablespoon at a time. If it looks like pebbles, add water 1 teaspoon at the time. Turn out onto floured surface and knead. 
• Cut the ball of dough into 6 pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at least 15 minutes, at most 1 hour.
• Run through pasta roller, starting with the widest setting and thinning until the sheet of pasta is almost translucent and you can see the outline of your hand through the dough. 
• Switch to spaghetti cutter. Run each sheet of pasta through the roller and hang on pasta drying rack. (If you don't have a rack, get creative- prop a broom over two chair backs and you can dry them over the handle... Just make sure your broom handle is clean!)
• Let the pasta dry at least 15 minutes. If you're not going to cook it immediately, let it dry an hour and then refrigerate or freeze it. 
• Boil salted water in a large pot, add the noodles and cook 4-5 minutes until al dente. Drain in a colander. 
• Top with whatever you have around, or use the following recipes to make it the way I had it.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients:

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut in 1/2" dice

1 Tbsp. butter, melted

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

salt and pepper

Directions

• Toss diced potatoes with butter, oil, salt and pepper.
• Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment or silpat. Arrange potatoes in a single layer. Cover baking sheet tightly with foil. Put in a cold oven and turn on to 425. Cook for about 30 minutes.
• Remove foil cook until the bottom edges are golden, 15-20 minutes.
• Flip the pieces over, roast until the bottom edges are golden, 15-20 minutes more. 
• Let cool 5-10 minutes and serve.

Caramelized Onion Sauce

Adapted from Cooks Illustrated

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp. butter

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. brown sugar

2 pounds onion, halved peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch slices. (Half pearl onions, whole)

1 garlic clove, minced

1 shallot, minced

1 cup chicken stock (I used homemade, just because I had it around. If you use store-bought, get low-sodium)

1/2 cup dry white wine (2 Buck Chuck works just fine)

Directions:

• Blanche pearl onions. (Boil for 3 minutes, then immediately in an ice bath) Peel. 
• Heat 1 Tbsp. butter on high. When the foam subsides, add 1/2 tsp. salt and all the sugar. 
• Add onions and stir to coat, cook until onions soften and release moisture, about 5 minutes.
• Reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring frequently until onions are deeply brown and slightly sticky. 
• Add garlic and shallot, cook until fragrant, about 1 minute. 
• Add chicken broth and wine, simmer until reduced to about 2 cups, 2-3 minutes.
• Off heat, whisk in 3 Tbsp. cold butter, 1 Tbsp. at a time. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. 

This was really good on top of the pasta, but could be great on some nice toast as an appetizer too.

Your meal is almost ready. Toast some chopped pecans in a saute pan until fragrant and nutty smelling. Be careful not to burn them! Take the pecans out, brown some butter in the same saute pan. Toss the spaghetti with the butter, top with sweet potatoes, then onions, then pecans. Add cheese of your choice. (Like I said, I did goat cheese this time, but would probably go with a hard Italian cheese next time)

Serve and enjoy!