I roasted my first acorn squash a while ago, and it was wonderful. Nutty and sweet. There are so many ways to use them in recipes; I had some quinoa pasta to use up and I thought the two together would make a yummy hot dinner.
It looked prettier after I added the goat cheese, but I ate it too fast.
Acorn Squash and Kale Pasta
Ingredients
1 acorn squash
Earth balance, butter, coconut oil, olive oil, whatever you prefer
1 tablespoon brown sugar or maple syrup
1 box quinoa pasta (or whatever kind you like, but quinoa has lots of protein and is gluten-free)
3 big kale leaves
Sage, optional
Salt and pepper
Goat cheese, crumbled, for serving
Olive oil, for serving
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. With a sharp knife, cut the squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff. Feel like it’s Halloween and you’re carving pumpkins. You can roast it like this, in 2 big halves, or cut into a few smaller chunks to make it go faster. Season with salt and pepper. Rub the squash pieces with a little butter/oil and sprinkle with brown sugar or maple syrup. Roast on a lined baking sheet until tender, about 1 hour. Let it cool enough to handle and then peel the skins off (they should come right off). Chop into big chunks.
Boil your water and cook the pasta according to the box. Drain, and reserve about a tablespoon of pasta water. Put drained pasta back into pot with the reserved water. Add squash chunks. Tear kale leaves and stir them into the pasta. Season with salt and lots of fresh ground black pepper, and a pinch of minced sage if you like. Serve in bowls and add crumbled goat cheese and a drizzle of olive oil.
This brown rice pasta would be tasty too (and I have a coupon code if you buy it there for $5 off–LIX715).
I wish I had had a nice camera when I was out riding yesterday–the fall colors were awesome and really popped in the misty rain and gray skies. It was a lovely ride but we did get a little soggy…
Apologies for the blurriness. It’s hard to take a good cell phone pic on a moving horse!
This looks pretty tasty!