Pasta with roasted acorn squash, mushrooms and pine nuts

Enjoy the flavors of autumn with roasted acorn squash and mushrooms on pasta, by Dave Utrata.

This recipe makes use of the wonderful winter squash that are currently abundant. After creating this, I realized it’s not so much brand new as a variant of other pasta toppings that one can find on the web. Nevertheless, I find this one has its own unique and filling capability, looks and tastes great!

Ingredients

• 1/2 acorn squash, peeled and cubed
• 1 cup sliced mushrooms, such as baby bellas
• 2 TBLSP pine nuts
• 1 tsp crushed savory leaf
• cooked pasta; I’m heartily recommending rigatoni
• olive oil
• grated parmesan (Parmigiano-Reggiano)

Directions

Begin by tossing the cubed squash in a shallow baking tray with some olive oil and the crushed savory leaf. When coated evenly, put in oven at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes to roast. Remove and bring near stove top.

Cook the pasta as per normal and drain.

While the squash and pasta are underway, sprinkle the pine nuts into a flat cooking pan and begin slightly toasting them; heat and toss them about for even color. Add the sliced mushrooms and some olive oil; let the mushrooms take on that nice dark color that shows they’ve absorbed the oil. Add the roasted acorn squash cubes and stir gently.

Now plate a desired amount of pasta and top with some of this mixture from the pan. Dribble with a little olive oil and top with freshly grated parmesan.

There you have it: simple and so satisfying, a great collection of good flavors. And this time I was clever enough to actually use a decent camera to catch a nice photograph for you. Continue to enjoy the fall harvest flavors!