Seeing all the recipes and pictures at Foodgawker, Recipemuncher and Tastespotting of beautiful looking dishes with butternut squash, an unknown vegetable to me, made me want to try and make something tasty with just that: Butternut Squash (I will refer to Butternut Squash as BS for the rest of this post, do not confuse it with Bullshit ;) ), or Kalebas as they are called here in Holland.
At Foodnetwork I found the recipe for Farfalle al Rocco, courtesy of Assagio Italian Restaurant, Portland, OR and knew this was the one, it had lots of items
Boy, did I have a hard time trying to get hold of a butternut squash.... But when I have an idea stuck in my head, I will stick with it. So I visited 3 different supermarket: no BS, I went to the Natuurwinkel (Nature Shop, that's where all the nature freaks with their grey wollen socks buy outlandish and uberhealthy things like pumpkin and so on): no BS. My last attempt was the turkish supermarket, because I knew they have a great variety of exotic foods. At last: Succes was mine: lots of BS!!
1 small butternut squash
1 pound good quality dried farfalle, preferably Italian (I used Penne, since that's what I had)
1/4 cup pure olive oil
1 pound mixed wild mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 bunch spinach, cleaned, stems removed and chopped into 2-inch squares
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated fine (I used Pecorino Romano, since it was on sale)
Sea salt
Black pepper, freshly ground
Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Bake the butternut squash on a baking sheet for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until you can easily slide a knife into the upper part of the squash. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Cut off the ends of the squash and pare away the skin. Cut the squash in half, removing the seeds. Dice the remaining flesh. Allow to cool completely.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta according to package instructions. In a saute pan large enough to accommodate all of the pasta, over medium-high heat, add the oil, mushrooms, butternut squash and salt and pepper to taste. Cook for several minutes until the mushrooms begin to soften. You may need to add more oil, as the mushrooms may absorb the liquid. Add the garlic and mix to combine until garlic begins to brown and the sides of the butternut squash become brown as well.
If the pasta is not finished yet, remove the saute pan from the heat and wait until the pasta is done. When the pasta is done, return the pan to high heat, quickly add the spinach and deglaze with the white wine, which will help wilt the spinach lightly. Season with salt and black pepper. Quickly drain the pasta, add it to the pan and toss to combine the ingredients, mixing in most of the grated parmesan while you are tossing. Transfer to a serving dish. Top with more grated cheese and freshly ground black pepper. Serve at once!
I don't get the American portion sizes..... This recipe is supposed to be 4 servings. Since that is way too much for me I halved the recipeand should have had 2 servings, right?? WRONG, I got 3 servings!!! O well, I won't complain since I loved this dish!
Just one question for you: I still have 2 cups of roasted and diced Butternut Squash leftover, what would you suggest I do with them?
