Homemade Butternut Squash Pasta in a Creamy Spinach Sauce
By: Angela LeMoine
Published: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 - 7:42pm

Ingredients




1 cup roasted butternut squash {1 small squash}
2 cups whole wheat flour {I use Bobs Red Mill}
1 cup all purpose flour
1 egg
1 egg yolk
olive oil
salt & pepper
For the Sauce:
3 1/2 cups reserved pasta water
2- 8 oz pkg Greek Yogurt Cream Cheese, cubed
6 garlic cloves, sliced
6 big handfuls of baby spinach
a couple handfuls of grated pecorino

Preparation

1 Preheat your oven to 385 degrees. 2 Cut the butternut squash into quarters lengthwise. Drizzle with a little olive oil, salt and pepper and place onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast cut side down for about 40-45 minutes until softened and golden. {The cooking time will vary depending on the size of the butternut squash}. 3 Set the squash aside and allow to cool. Once cool to the touch spoon the inside into a bowl and discard the skin. 4 Add the flours, cooled squash, egg, egg yolk, salt and pepper into a food processor set up with the dough blade. Pulse until the dough just comes together. {Reminder, I made 2 batches of the dough, there is enough sauce for both batches} 5 Remove the dough and place onto a floured surface. Flour up your hands and work any loose ingredients into the dough, form into a ball and set aside on a floured surface or piece of parchment. 6 Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes or so. 7 While the dough is resting we can start the sauce. In a large sauté pan add a drizzle of olive oil and garlic. Cook just a few minutes over medium low heat. 8 Add in the spinach just to wilt. Add the cream cheese in and shut the heat, it will just start to soften up and melt a bit... we'll come back to the sauce. 9 Cut each dough round into 3 or 4 pieces and roll out to the thickness of your liking, again on a well floured surface. I like to go relatively thin with it {it will grow a little bit as it cooks} 10 Using a knife or pizza cutter, cut the rolled out dough into pasta strands, again shape and thickness that you prefer. 11 Toss the strands with some more flour, just lightly so that they don't stick together and place onto a baking sheet. 12 Continue with the remaining dough. 13 Cook in a couple batches or in a single batch if you have a nice big pot. Be sure to stir after adding the pasta to the water to prevent sticking. 14 Strain the pasta but reserve that cooking liquid! Add in approx 3 1/2 cups of the pasta water into the pan for our sauce. 15 Turn the heat back onto medium low and stir until the cream cheese is all melted and everything is well incorporated. 16 Shut the heat, stir in a couple handfuls of pecorino cheese and season with salt and pepper to taste. 17 Toss the sauce with that gorgeous pasta and enjoy!

About

I don’t know if there is anything more wonderful then fresh homemade pasta! There’s really no comparison to dry pasta. The texture and flavor is just perfect! For me, homemade pasta is something that I don’t make too frequently, not because of difficulty but because of time. This Homemade Butternut Squash Pasta in a Creamy Spinach Sauce actually comes together very easily but I’ll be honest it takes some time to turn a ball of dough into this beautiful hand cut pasta. The sauce couldn’t be easier though, simply some sautéed garlic, greek yogurt cream cheese, pasta water, baby spinach and grated pecorino cheese. This may look like a Fall inspired dish but it works just fine for me any day of the year!