Sage Caramelized Cream and Squash Pasta

This recipe idea came after reading some ideas from Aki and Alex at Ideas in Food and Lizzie Stark, author of Egg: A Dozen Ovatures, both of whom love to fry eggs in heavy cream until the heavy cream breaks and browns like browned butter.

It's a delicious technique because cream is essentially the same constituent parts as butter, but with a higher concentration of milk solids (proteins and sugars) than butter. So when you cook it until the water evaporates, you're left with butterfat (just as with butter), along with a whole bunch of milk solids to brown and give that characteristic browned butter nutty sweetness.

I've found uses for it in a number of situations (including frying a steak or pork chop, or making a caramelized cream of tomato soup), but this caramlized cream pasta sauce is a pretty good one.

It's basically butternut squash pasta with a sage brown butter sauce, but instead of browned butter, I used browned heavy cream.

Ingredients:

1 pint (500ml) heavy cream, divided

1 pound (450g) of diced butternut squash (about 1/2-inch dice)

A couple slices of bacon or pancetta, finely diced

2 ounces (60g) of pinenuts or roughly chopped hazelnuts (optional)

Salt and pepper

A bunch of fresh sage, leaves thinly sliced or minced

1 tablespoon (15ml) of fresh lemon juice

A dash of freshly grated nutmeg

1 pound (450g) of dry tubular pasta, such as penne or rigatoni

An ounce (30g) of grated Pecorino Romano or Parmigiano-Reggiano, plus more for the table

1. Add half of the cream to a large, wide pot. A very large saucepan or straight-sided sauté pan would do, so would a wok or an enameled Dutch oven. Non-stick is fine, so is any other material you might have. Add the squash and bacon (and nuts, if using), season with salt and pepper, and cook over medium heat, stirring and tossing frequently until the cream boils away and edges of the squash and bacon begin to turn a golden, nutty brown, about 10 minutes. (Note: Do not let any of the browned bits burn. If there's any threat of burning, immediately move on to the next step.)

2. Remove from heat. Add the minced sage. It should sizzle in the fat immediately. Add the lemon juice, nutmeg, and reserved half of the cream. Stir to scrape up any browned bits, then set the sauce aside. (It's OK if the sauce looks a little greasy or broken at this point).

3. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta for one minute less than the package directions. Using a wire mesh strainer or a spider, transfer the pasta to the skillet with the sauce. Use a ladle to splash about a cup of pasta water over the pan. Set the pan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring and tossing constantly, until the pasta is perfectly al dente and the sauce is creamy and emulsified, about 1 minute. (If the sauce is thin and watery, let it cook down a little longer. If it's thick or greasy/broken, add a splash more pasta water).

4. Off-heat, stir in the cheese. Serve immediately, with more cheese at the tableside.