Roasted Winter Squash Pasta

Submitted by Maureenie

"This recipe is part of The New York Times' "Recipes for Health" series. You can roast the squash in advance of your meal and when ready to eat, reheat in the microwave while you cook your pasta."

 

• Ready In: 50mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 4

ingredients

• 1 small butternut squash, about 1 1/2 pounds, peeled, seeded, and cut in 1/2-inch dice
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled, lightly crushed
• salt & freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 3⁄4 lb pasta, either long pasta like spaghetti or 3/4 lb penne
• 2 ounces ricotta salata, grated or 2 ounces crumbled goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• parmesan cheese (optional)

directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Toss squash, garlic, salt and pepper, rosemary, and 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large bowl.
3. Place mixture on a baking pan lined with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
4. 10 minutes into roasting the vegetables, put a pot of water on for the spaghetti. When the water comes to a boil, cook spaghetti according to package directions.
5. When squash is finished cooking, place mixture in a large wide pasta bowl. (You can either remove the garlic cloves at this point, or if you like a strong garlic flavor, finely chop the garlic and put back into the squash mixture.)
6. Stir cheese into the squash.
7. Add 1/2 cup pasta water to the mixture and cover with aluminum foil to keep warm until the pasta is done.
8. Cook pasta al dente. Drain well and toss with the squash and cheese mixture.
9. Top with the remaining oil, parsley, and grated Parmesan cheese.

Reviews

[elizabeth.kronoff]

I was very disappointed with this recipe, which I followed to the letter. Maybe my squash was not of very high quality, but it certainly smelled nice when fresh. Maybe I did not salt the pasta generously enough, but I used about two tablespoons. Overall we felt that it was very bland, despite the cheese and salt. I would mince the garlic next time instead of leaving it in the peel, and leave it in the pasta, and use way more cheese (I ended up adding more as we ate this time). I also would not cook the squash as long- 8 minutes would have been plenty.