Pasta with Butternut Squash and Pecans

This is a great Fall pasta dish. It was pretty easy to prepare- I made it during the week after work and it was worth the little extra effort. We carved our pumpkins the night before and I included the butternut squash in the festivities (i.e. peeled and chopped it up in advance). That saved a lot of time and made it easier to throw together the next night. This dish just tasted like Autumn and made the house smell delicious too! I got this recipe from Martha Stewart- shocking, I know- but I actually saw her make it on her show and she made it look so good and effortless (whipped it up while interviewing a celebrity at the same time of course!). I do realize I need to vary my sources a bit or else I am going to have to change the name of this blog to Cooking with Martha or something!

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

1 pound tubular pasta, such as gemelli or penne
1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (I used 3 tablespoons)
1/2 cup pecans, coarsely chopped (I actually didn’t read this carefullyand left them whole- which was great too!)
Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for serving (I used less)
1/2 cup fresh flat-leaf parsley, thinly sliced (omitted because we didn’t have any)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (I just shaved some on top)
1 cup fresh ricotta cheese (I just dolloped about a tablespoon on each plate)

Directions

Steam the butternut squash until easily pierced with the tip of a knife, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside. In a medium skillet over medium heat, cook butter, stirring, until melted and just beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add pecans and cook, stirring, until lightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Add squash and stir gently to combine; season with salt and pepper.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Generously salt water and return to a boil. Add pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain and return to pot. Add olive oil and parsley and season with salt and pepper; toss to combine. Divide pasta evenly between 4 plates and spoon squash mixture on top of pasta. Or as we did, just add the pasta to the pan of squash mixture and stir to combine. Top each plate with a dollop of ricotta and shaving of Parmesan.