After enjoying a beautiful lightening show from my window tonight, I was in the mood for something cheesy and creamy but a bit more interesting than just plain old Mac n’ cheese.
I had a beautiful butternut squash sitting in my fruit basket, and I remembered recently seeing a pumpkin pasta online that looked absolutely delicious. So inspiration hit! Butternut squash pasta with all kinds of cheeses! It has cheddar, goat Gouda, mozzarella and creamy ricotta. The icing on the cake (or should I say but squash) that makes this dish insane? Brown butter and sage sauce poured on top then baked to perfection!
| Prep Time | 10 minutes |
| Cook Time | 1 hour |
| Servings |
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- 1 butternut squash
- 1 lb bag of pasta any kind
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1/2 cup cheddar shredded
- 1/4 cup goat Gouda shredded
- 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella + more for topping
- 1/3 cup ricotta + more for topping
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- salt
- freshly cracked black pepper
Ingredients
Pasta
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- Preheat the oven to 400 F.
- Cut squash in half and scoop out all the seeds and gook. Sprinkle with salt and freshly ground pepper. Place squash face down in a shallow baking dish with a little bit of water. Bake at 400 F for 40-60 minutes until a fork tender. Take out of the oven and allow it to cool. *See notes
- Turn the oven down to 350 F.
- Meanwhile prepare pasta according to package directions. Drain, rinse and set aside.
- In a big bowl combine the garlic, all the cheeses and seasonings until pepper and mix well. Scrape in the butternut squash flesh once cooled and mix well. Mix the squash and cheese mixture with the pasta and place into a baking dish.
- Alternatively if you've managed to keep your squash flesh intact, spoon the pasta mixture back into there for a beautiful presentation and all the leftovers into a baking dish.
- Place dollops of ricotta cheese on the top of the pasta and sprinkle with extra mozzarella.
- Over a medium flame, heat up a small sauté pan. Add in the butter and let melt. When the butter starts to turn brown at the edges, lower the flame and add in the sage leaves. Give it a quick stir and let the sage leaves get coated then turn off the flame.**
- Pour over the pasta. Bake the pasta at 350 for half an hour until the cheese is melted, golden and bubbly!
*If you do not have time to bake the butternut squash then you can replace this with frozen pureed butternut squash.
**If you'r not into sage, skip the browned butter and sage sauce and bake right away.
