creamy ✓
easy ✓
delicious ✓
I am so ready for fall. It has been a very hot southern summer and I am ready for the weather to cool down. I made this butternut squash pasta, hoping that the weather would notice that I had started to pull out the fall ingredients.
Really I can’t complain about the weather here when our friends in Houston are going through a major natural disaster right now. Here is a link to donate to the Red Cross if you are interested in helping out the Hurricane Harvey victims:
Roasted Butternut Squash Fettuccine
Servings: 6
Ingredients:
- 5 strips thick cut bacon or 5 ounces of pancetta
- 1 half diced white onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 1 butternut squash
- 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 – 1 cup vegetable broth, chicken broth, or pasta water (if you don’t have broth)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 1/2 cup 1% milk
- salt and pepper to taste
- 2 lb fettuccine noodles
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Halve butternut squash and scoop out the seeds. Brush with olive oil, and sprinkle salt and pepper. Place cut side down on a cookie sheet and roast until soft, around 45 minutes. Scrape out contents until you have 2 cups of roasted butternut squash.
- Heat a pot of salted water on high until boiling. Add noodles and cook according to package instructions. Drain.
- Heat a large pan over medium heat. Cut bacon or pancetta into small 1/2 inch pieces. Cook bacon or pancetta until brown and crispy, 7-8 minutes. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon, leaving behind as much bacon grease as you are able to.
- Add onion and garlic to the hot bacon grease and cook until onion is soft and translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Sprinkle flour and thyme over entire mixture and stir until mixture is starting to very lightly brown, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add milk and stir, cooking over heat for 1-2 minutes to warm the milk.
- Transfer liquid mixture and roasted butternut squash to a food processor and pulse a few times, for a few seconds each time, until mixture is combined and the butternut squash is mostly blended. Try not to pulse too much, as the mixture will become gummy.
- Transfer mixture back to the pan and add broth or pasta water until sauce is desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add noodles and bacon. I served this with a side of steamed broccoli. Enjoy!
