The thing that I love the most about Butternut Squash, is how versatile it is. If you’ve followed my site for a while (thank you so much), then you’re probably used to seeing me upload a recipe for butternut squash soup every now and then.

For the following recipe, I combine my love for butternut squash with my love of pasta (and parmesan cheese!) by making a cheesy butternut squash sauce. Comfort food at its finest while still being quite healthy; I’ll definitely be making this again, but I’ll probably tweak the ingredients a little bit to make it a bit more moist; a bit more cream, or chicken stock, perhaps.

You can also play around with extra ingredients. For example, I already have plans to try it as a casserole bake with chicken. I also plan on using the butternut squash sauce with jasmine rice for another dish…. maybe a soup… ou, maybe even a coconut milk-based soup…. Oh, and another time, I may add ground Italian sausage for a bit of heat. Or maybe I’ll make Italian sausage meatballs! As you can see, you can customize this recipe quite easily; I’ll never leave the kitchen with all the meals that these ingredients can make. It just goes to show that it’s helpful to buy in bulk whenever feasible.

This recipe is inspired by Elise Bauer’s recipe on Simply Recipes.

Parmesan Butternut Squash Sauce with Pasta

Ingredients

1 butternut squash (+1/4 cup water for cooking)
1 lb penne pasta (or pasta of your preference)
~1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup chopped shallots or onions
1/4 cup packed, freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup sour cream (or, use a healthier sour cream substitute)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley, for garnish

Optional: Grated Nutmeg and/or red chili flakes for heat

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cut the butternut squash lengthwise in half (carefully!) and scoop out the seeds. (You can bake these for a nice snack, and even use them in a bird feeder).

Add 1/4 cup of water into a baking dish that is big enough to hold the butternut squash halves; place butternut squash cut side down.

Bake for 40 minutes or until a fork easily pierces the squash. Cool for 10 minutes.

Separate the squash from its skin, toss the skins, and put the remaining squash to the side. into a blender.

Sauté shallots in a bit of olive oil over medium heat in a small skillet. Sauté until they start to brown (don’t burn them!) then remove from heat. At this point, prepare the pasta as indicated.

Time to make the sauce! Add the shallots, 1 cup pasta water, parmesan, a bit of salt, and a pinch of nutmeg into a blender. Blend until smooth, and taste. Add a bit more salt if needed. If the sauce is too thick, thin it with a little bit of water at a time until you reach the proper consistency.

You can also use an immersion blender, but that’s up to you. I like using immersion blenders because the clean-up is a hundred times easier than a big blender.

Pour the sauce into a small pot set over low heat. Mix in the sour cream and heat it without having it boil.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain it. You then have two options. One, you can mix all of the pasta and all of the sauce together. Or, two, you can serve the pasta, and allow your guest to decide how much sauce they’d like. Add a bit of parsley for garnish et voilà! Bon Appétit!