Description
This honeynut squash pasta alla vodka is your favorite vodka pasta, but with sweet honeynut squash, Aleppo pepper, and crispy sage. It’s the perfect fall pasta!
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 honeynut squash (about 200 g or 6.7 oz roasted squash)
- 290 g pasta (I love mezze maniche for this dish)
- 2 shallots, finely minced (about 115 g)
- 4 garlic cloves, finely minced or grated (12 g minced)
- 3 tbsp (55 g or 2 oz) tomato paste
- 1 ½ tsp Aleppo pepper or Silk chili
- 1 tsp dried oregano or Italian herbs
- 3 tbsp (30 g or 1.1 oz) lemon juice
- 2/3 cup (130 g or 4.6 oz) milk
- 1/2 cup – 1 cup pasta water to achieve desired consistency
- Sage leaves and olive oil
- Parmesan for serving
Instructions
- Roast the squash. Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Poke your honeynut squash with a knife or fork, and roast whole (or cut in half, scoop out the seeds, and place face-down on the pan) for 40-45 minutes or until soft. NOTE: I typically have either roasted honeynut squash or roasted koginut squash in my fridge, which eliminates this step and makes this pasta much easier to whip up.
- Cook the pasta just before you start cooking the sauce, so it cooks in parallel to the sauce. Cook the pasta in salted boiling water until al dente, reserve 1 cup of pasta water, drain, and dump the pasta into the pot with the finished sauce. NOTE: You’ll likely only need 1/2 cup of pasta water, but I like to reserve extra pasta water just in case.
- Make the sauce. To a large pan, add a generous amount of olive oil (~4 tbsp), shallots, and garlic. Sauté the aromatics until the shallots are translucent, then add the tomato paste and sauté for an additional 2 minutes. Sprinkle in the Aleppo pepper and herbs and let bloom for 20-30 seconds, then add the lemon juice, cream, and 200g squash. Stir together.
- Blend the sauce. Transfer the sauce to a blender and blend until super smooth (about 2 minutes), or use an immersion blender to blend the sauce. Feel free to add 1/4 cup pasta water to help it blend more smoothly.
- Finish the pasta. Add the blended sauce back to the pan along with the cooked pasta and stir to combine over low heat, using pasta water to loosen the sauce and finish cooking the pasta. The sauce should be glossy and coat the pasta.
- Serve. Fry sage leaves in olive oil (or butter) until crisp. Drain on a paper towel. Serve with the fried sage leaves (plus a little of the sage oil) and grated Parmesan.