Autumn Pasta with Butternut Squash, Greens, Bacon, and Brown Butter

Tastes-like-fall butternut squash pairs well in pasta dishes, as I learned last year at this time thanks to some fancy food dinners around Birmingham.

There was the herbed goat cheese ravioli with butternut squash, onions, bacon, shaved parmigiano-reggiano, sage, brown butter and sauteed mustard greens at Satterfield's.  And then a similar butternut-bacon-greens pasta at Bottega Cafe. Both were obvious choices in my order-something-unique-while-I'm-eating-out menu quest and more than pleased my palate.

Butternut squash and mustard greens came home with me from the farmer's market a few weeks ago, and while pondering what to do with my attempts to eat like fall, I remembered how badly I wanted to make my own version of the butternut pasta delight. Delish.

Autumn Pasta with Butternut Squash, Greens, Bacon, and Brown Butter
1/2 pound penne pasta
1 medium butternut squash, peeled and chopped into bite-sized pieces
Olive oil
3 slices bacon
1/2 yellow onion, chopped 
1 lb. mustard greens or other greens, wash and torn into large pieces
1/4 cup butter

Cook pasta. Toss squash with olive oil and arrange on a baking sheet. Roast at 425 degrees 10-20 minutes or until tender.

In a pan, cook bacon. Remove bacon from pain and drain about half of the grease. Saute onions in leftover grease. Add greens and cook until slightly wilted, stirring frequently. While greens cook, tear the bacon into small pieces

In a separate sauce pan, add butter and cook over medium heat until browned. There will be speckled flecks of brown when it is ready.

Toss together pasta, squash, bacon, greens, and brown butter. Serve warm.