Batali’s Butternut Squash

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We’ve been trying to make use of all the winter veggies out there.  We recently made some good brussels sprouts dishes that we will write up soon, but for today we want to post on the pasta below.  We’ve made it a number of times and always enjoyed it, but only now feel that we’ve honed in on proportions that we want to set in stone (or at least type electronically on this blog).  Long story short: We made it most recently for a mid-week guest who ended up canceling, which means we can’t attest to her love of it but we can promise that the two of us were excited to have all of the extra left-overs!  It is definitely worth a shot sometime this winter.

 

Shells and Butternut Squash 

(Barely adapted from a Batali Recipe)

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp butter

8 large garlic cloves thinly sliced

1 tsp of red chili flakes

1 ½ lb butternut squash (12 min)

½ large red onion (we have also used shallots, but like the red onion better)

¼ tsp sea salt

¼ tsp fresh ground black pepper

½ cup parm + more to serve

1 tsp thyme

⅔ lb of medium shells

 

Bring a big pot of heavily salted water to a boil, add shells, and take them out before they are al dente — they continue to cook later with the squash, so if you cook them perfectly now, they will be overcooked later (we found out the hard way in one of our earlier incantations of this).  Reserve 1 cup of the pasta water (we’ll use it later to make it saucy).

Prep the squash by cutting it into 1 or 1 ½ inch cubes.  Slice the garlic and chop the red onion.  Take the thyme off the stems and chop it.  Grate the cheese. Set all of this aside.

Heat the oil and butter in a deep sauce pan or skillet that can be covered.  Add the onion, garlic, and red pepper and cook over moderately high heat until the onion is softened.

Add the squash, thyme, salt and pepper.  Incorporate and cook for 5 minutes.  Cover the pan and continue to cook the squash for another 10-12 minutes.  You don’t want the squash to get too mushy, and the bigger chunks also help avoid that.

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Add the almost-al-dente shells to the pan and incorporate.  Add as much of the pasta water (that we put aside earlier) as necessary.  We usually add about a ½ cup.  Add most of the parm, but save a little to add to the top when serving and make sure to serve hot.

Resolution: make again before springtime.

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