Roasted Squash & Potato with Sausage & Cranberries

Nothing says fall like pumpkins and winter squash. But honestly as good as they are, you can really only prepare and eat them a few ways, why?…….well, because their not potatoes 🙂 LOL

*NOTE (Can be made vegan my plant based friends, read on)

I can only eat so much Butternut squash Ravioli and soup or stuffed Acorn. This recipe is different. It gives an abundance of warm aromatic fall flavors and colors to incite all the senses. Serve this at a family dinner or at an evening with friends and they will be singing your praises!

You can start with a Sugar Pie pumpkin, Butternut or Acorn squash. But I will be using a Kombucha Squash, (Japanese Pumpkin or Sweet Mama) This IS my all time favorite and go to for just about every application where pumpkin or a sweeter squash is called for. What, you have never tried it? You don’t know what it is? Well, if that’s the case here is an article by Cooking Light that gives you the skinny on the Kombucha squash. (The green one pictured here)

Ingredients:

1 lb Italian Sausage (or 1 vegan equivalent OR this seitan Italian sausage recipe) larger crumbles, about 1/2 to 3/4 inch.
1 Sweetie Pie pumpkin or winter squash (If using Acorn use 2)
3 to 3 1/2 pounds potatoes (you can use any potato or a combination)
1/2 cup cranberries
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes roughly chopped (Optional, but highly recommended)
* 1 tsp fennel & 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (If you are using my recipe for seitan Italian sausage you will not need this)

1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tbls Olive Oil
1 tsp ground sage or 2 tsp rubbed sage.
2 tsp dried Thyme
1 heaping tbls fresh rosemary roughly chopped
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Cheyenne pepper
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (1/2 if you like it a little spicier)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper

Prep: *NOTE If you are making this plant based, make this seitan sausage recipe ahead of time.

Wash the pumpkin or squash. Now you need to peal and de-seed it. *Note Peeling and slicing are a little challenging on these guys, please take care. You can use a knife or peeler to peel them, but you will definitely need a big chefs knife to cut and slice them. Scoop out the seeds. (You can save them to roast if you like) Once you have your squash or pumpkin cleaned, chop it into roughly 1 inch cubes. Set aside.

Prepare your sausage. *If using pork Italian sausage, mix 1 tsp fennel seed and 1/4 tsp red pepper flake into it before frying. While cooking break sausage. It should be 1/2 to 3/4 inch in size when you are done cooking. Place on paper towel to absorb all excess fat *If plant based, follow directions on package or directions on recipe given. Either way, your ending product should be 1/2 to 3/4 inch when finished.

Peel and chop potatoes into roughly 1 inch cubes. (if you are using baby potatoes, you can leave the peeling on.) Do this last in your prep, because potatoes start to turn grey if left out to long.

Roughly chop the rosemary. Mix all the spices together in a small dish.

Directions: Preheat oven to 425° Combine squash and potatoes only in a large bowl. Drizzle olive oil over squash and potatoes. Toss with spoon, taking care to coat each piece evenly with the oil. Sprinkle 1/2 the seasoning over them. Toss again to coat. Repeat with the rest of the seasoning. Once the squash and potatoes are coated evenly, dump onto lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 425° for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes take out of the oven and sprinkle with the cranberries, sun dried tomatoes, pumpkin seeds and sausage. Toss and turn the mixture and roast again for an additional 15 minutes. If they are not caramely, toss and turn them and put them back in for another 10 minutes.

Serve with your favorite salad and crusty bread. Pictured here with warm honey mustard spinach salad and french bread croutons.