I find when the cooler weather starts and the produce section is filled with squash I crave hearty warm fall dishes. I love roasted Butternut Squash as it is and this time I wanted to do something a bit different with it! This Butternut Squash Pasta dish is a healthy option to Mac and cheese while still tasting decadent. I first roasted the butternut squash, onion and garlic in the oven, then pureed it. The roasted veggies could be a make ahead step and reheated before you are ready to toss on your pasta. The squash puree on its own is quite thick so I tossed in Mascarpone Cheese and half a cup of pasta water. If you are dairy free a 1 cup or 1 ½ of veggie broth would thin the sauce enough, depending on how thin or thick you like it. This recipe is for approximately eight but then again it depends on how much your family eats! For a small family I recommend dividing the squash sauce and freezing it for a quick and easy meal for when you are on the run.
Recipe
Serves 8 - 10
Ingredients
1 whole squash
8 garlic cloves (peeled and left whole)
1 whole onion
2-3 tbsp Zeus Juice
20ish sage leaves
450 grams of pasta (your choice we used Rediatori)
273 grams mascarpone
salt and pepper
1 tbps butter (optional)
Chili flakes (optional)
Method
Heat oven to 375.
Remove seeds, peel* and cube squash into 1/2 inch squares, toss in olive oil, salt & pepper, 1 roughly chopped onion, whole garlic cloves and 8 chopped sage leaves. Spread evenly on a pan and roast at 375 for 45 mins. Flip half way through.
Boil water (be sure to add enough salt to make the water taste like the sea) and add pasta; cook to al dente (reserve about a 1 1/2 cup of pasta water).
While pasta cooks, transfer the roasted squash to either a blender or pot and puree it, put it back on the stove at low heat, add chili flakes mascarpone and some pasta water (about half a cup) until sauce is reaches a lovely sauce consistency to your liking. Finish sauce salt and pepper to taste and with a dollop of butter.
Heat some oil in a small pan and add the remaining sage leaves, quickly fry the sage 1 - 2 mins, watch carefully to avoid burning. Grate parmesan (these steps can be done ahead of time as well).
Add sauce to pasta (add more pasta water if sauce is too thick, we used 1 ½ cups. Garnish with fried sage leaves and parmesan!
*Wendy pro tip - to make life easier use SHARP knives when peeling the squash