Recipe > Roast Butternut Squash Pasta in a Cream Sauce

Roast Butternut Squash Pasta in a Cream Sauce
I stumbled across this recipe while snowboarding in Italy. I'd been chasing powder all day yet had managed to lose my bearings and had ridden down the wrong side of the mountain. It took me three hours to hike back to my chalet, along the way I came across a tiny village, pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Tired, grumpy and in need of refreshment I stopped off for some food, there were only two dishes on the menu and this was what I chose. Damn, but it was good! Wonderful roasted flavours with fresh herbs married with the simplicity of of white wine and cream sauce. Dude it was sweeeeeet!

You could always add the fresh herbs and garlic to the sauce but I prefer to roast them with the butternut squash for richer, smokier flavours.

Serves 4

Recipe Ingredients
For the roasted vegetables:
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium butternut squash
1 red onion
110g / 4oz field or portobello mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
1/4 bunch assorted fresh herbs (oregano, basil, mint, rosemary etc)
Sea salt and cracked black pepper

225g / 8oz pasta (penne or tagliatelle)

For the sauce:
1 Tblsp olive oil
1/2 onion
100ml / 3.5fl oz white wine
150ml / 5.5fl oz double cream

Mise-en-Place:
Preheat the oven to gas mk 6 / 200°C / 400°F
For the roasted vegetables:
Peel, de-seed and slice the butternut squash into thick slices
Slice the onion and mushrooms
Chop the garlic
Roughly chop the herbs

For the pasta:
Prepare a pot of lightly salted boiling water

For the sauce:
Finely dice the onion
Measure the wine and cream

Cooking Method:
The roasted vegetables:
Place the roasting vegetables in a roasting tray. Toss the vegetables with the olive oil, herbs, sea salt and cracked black pepper.
Roast the vegetables for 15-20 minutes until soft and golden brown in colour.

While the vegetables are roasting cook the pasta:
Place the pasta in the boiling water. Cook until soft but not overcooked between 3-8 minutes depending on pasta type (when bitten pasta should still retain enough bite for you to be able to taste each individual piece of pasta in your mouth. This is known as 'al dente')
When cooked drain the pasta, toss a tablespoon of olive oil through it and keep warm.

Make the sauce:
In a saucepan over a medium heat:
Heat the oil
Add the onions, gently fry until lightly brown
Add the wine, boil for 1-2 minutes until the liquid has reduced to a 1/3 or its original volume
Add the cream, boil for 1 minute
Season with salt and pepper.

To serve mix the roasted vegetables with the pasta and sauce


Adjust: The sauce should be rich and creamy
Too bland: Add more salt and pepper
Too thin: Boil rapidly until the sauce thickens
Too rich: Add more wine and boil through
Too shallow: Add a tablespoon of freshly chopped herbs

Presentation:
Use a wide, shallow pasta bowl
Mix half of the roasted vegetables through the pasta, reserve the other half for garnish.
Pour the pasta into the bowls
Place the reserved roasted vegetables on top of the pasta
If you wish garnish with a sprig of basil or oregano (or even use a sprig that has been roasted)

Chef Insight:
Butternut squash is a native of the americas and only came to Italy alongside other squashes (courgette / zucchini, pumpkin and acorn squash) due to early trade with Portuguese and spanish merchant fleets in the 16th Century