Roasted Butternut Squash Rigatoni

Butternut squash is my favorite vegetable bar none. I know that I picked the restaurant that was the scene of my engagement because it had something with butternut squash on the menu – though after Jonathan decided after many years of dating to make an honest woman of me I was so surprised I have no memory at all of what I actually ate.

It’s also the only food to have literally put me to bed. A bowl of roasted squash soup with a drizzle of maple syrup knocked me out for the afternoon when I ate it for brunch with Jon a few weeks ago. That said, brunch followed by an afternoon in bed is not necessarily a bad thing …

Ingredients (serves 2)

This pasta dish is elegant, sweet and tangy and creamy all at once.

Rigatoni (about 200g)

½ butternut squash peeled and cubed into a 2cm dice

3 tbsp crumbled feta cheese

3 tbsp cream

2 sage leaves

1 tbsp butter

2 tbsp chopped pecans

1tbsp parmesan cheese (grated)

2 handfuls of arugula (rocket)

Salt and pepper

• Preheat the oven to 450
• Toss the squash cubes with olive oil salt and pepper then roast for 15 minutes until soft and caramelized
• Meanwhile bring a pan of water to the boil, salt liberally and add the rigatoni
• Boil for 1 minute less than the packet instructions so that it is al dente
• Drain the pasta but not too well – the starchy water will help the sauce
• In the hot pasta pan, melt the butter and add the sage leaves. Sizzle for a minute to release the flavors
• Add the roasted squash, the feta and the cream then add the pasta and stir to combine
• Season well
• Stir a handful of rocket into each portion – the heat will make it start to wilt just a little
• Serve with chopped pecans and parmesan cheese scattered on top

If you have a blender and the inclination, you could puree half of the roasted squash and stir it into the cream as a sauce, leaving the other half to be scattered whole into the rigatoni.

This recipe originally appeared along with a healthy lack of experimental jazz.