Early Fall Pasta

Happy Thursday, everyone! We hope your week has been super awesome. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one, but I find that some of my best recipes are a product of having a few things in the fridge that I've never tried together, but they're the only things on hand. Last week, looking at a fridge full of corn and spinach, and a lonely butternut squash and some whole wheat farfalle in the pantry, I came up with this pasta, which, it turns out, is a lovely early fall dish if you can still get good corn.  Part of the secret is letting the butter brown a little bit, which gives it a really nice richness.

Farfalle with Roasted Butternut Squash, Spinach, Corn, and Goat Cheese
Ingredients:
1 1/2T olive oil, divided
1/2T butter
1/2 medium butternut squash, cut into 1/4" cubes
2 ears corn, shucked and kernels removed from cob
1 11 oz package of baby spinach (about 6c loosely packed)
2c whole wheat farfalle, cooked according to manufacturer's instructions (note: I like my pasta to be an accoutrement to, rather than the center of, a dish.  If you like a more pasta-heavy pasta dish, you may want to add some more pasta.)  
goat cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the squash with 1T olive oil and some salt.  Roast squash for about 40 minutes, or until it's soft, slightly brown, and cooked through.
Heat butter and 1/2T olive oil in a large frying pan or sauté pan over medium-high heat.  Leave on heat until the butter solids start to brown a bit and the butter/oil combination takes on a lovely golden hue.  Without turning down the heat, add the corn, and let sit until it starts to brown. Reduce heat to medium, and stir in spinach.  Cook until the spinach is just wilted. Turn off heat and add pasta and squash. Add salt and pepper to taste, and serve topped with chunks of goat cheese.
Enjoy! 

P.S. If this isn't enough recipe inspiration for you, hop on over to It All Started at Mother's for Karen's recipe today!