Fallen Souffle

I have been feeling adventurous lately and thought I would try and spice things up with some new ingrediants. Surprisingly enough I have become a bit obsessed with fresh vegetables. Kroger had all types of squash on sale this week so I thought this was the best time as any to experiment with them. I caught a snippet of Martha on the Today show last week making a sort of sauce for pasta with butternut squash, so after a bit of searching on her website(I got a bit sidetracked) I found it! After reading through her recipes I realized two things. 1. She uses 4 different pieces of cookware (a baking sheet, dutch oven, and 2 skillets). She must still be bitter about having dishwashing duties at Alderson, who wants to clean up 4 pieces after dinner! 2. She creates so many unnecessary steps in creating this dinner, probably because she wanted to maximize the number of pans used, see item 1.

So I felt I needed to do what I do best and create a few short cuts. In the end I fell in love with this recipe, it is actually pretty simple to make and has an amazing depth of flavor and uses very little fat so it is super healthy. I love using it over pasta as I sometimes get sick of the same old marinara (shh… pretend you didn’t hear that!)

Spicy Butternut Squash Pasta
(derived from Martha’s Spicy Squash with Pasta

1 2-pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 pound of linguine
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/4 teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon of dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon of dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon of savory
You can use any combination of dried spices you have around- it will taste great anyway!

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a Silpat or parchment paper, foil would even work but spray it with Pam. Place cut side up on pan and season squash with salt and pepper. Bake for 10 mins then flip cut side down and bake for 20-30 mins until fork tender. Remove from oven and let cool 10 mins or so before handling. Scoop out all the flesh, discarding skin and set aside.

2. Boil your pound of pasta in a large dutch over filled with salted water. Cook to al dente. Drain pasta and toss with a bit of olive oil if you desire.

3. In the dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and herbs. Cook until garlic is golden. Add the reserved squash and heat through. Taste and make sure you like all the seasonings, I added a touch of kosher salt.

4. Spoon squash mixture over pasta and top with a dollop of ricotta cheese if you have some (not necessary, it is so good on its own!) Enjoy!

For kicks, check out the original recipe.

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