Well, it’s Monday afternoon and believe it or not, there is not that much left from my Saturday pick-up. Have had a busy few days of cooking, eating, entertaining.  I much appreciated the help in consuming these delectable perishables. I’ll spend a few minutes reflecting on Saturday night’s pasta experiment with delicata squash, which was a first for me.

Delicata Squash

The delicata that we picked up from the CSA on Saturday was on the small side, but I still had high hopes for it. I figured its diminutive size could work in my favor – if we liked it, we’d be eager to try more. If we hated it, there wasn’t that much of it in the dish. I was intrigued by how pretty the squash looks when cooked, and by the fact that it doesn’t need to be peeled (bonus!). N.b. photo below is not mine. I did the unthinkable: left home without my phone/camera this weekend.

Roasted Delicata Squash

After some research, I settled on this recipe under the headline Delicious Fall Pasta Recipe from a Chicago chef and  foodie blogger Chow Bella. Given that my pantry was lacking some key ingredients, like radicchio and tallegio, paired with the fact that those foodstuffs would not fly with Hubs,  I took some liberties in my  technique and preparation….Here’s my interpretation of the recipe inspired by Chow Bella’s.

Ingredients:

250  grams or 1/2 box of spaghettini (thin spaghetti)
3-4 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 lb. Delicata Squash
4 cloves of garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup Parmiggiano grated cheese [can add Taleggio cut in cubes if you have it on hand]
Kosher Salt and Black Pepper, to taste

Instructions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Cut the squash in half, lengthwise and trim off both ends, and scoop out seeds. No need to peel the squash.  Slice the squash in 1/4 inch slices.  Toss the squash with 1 Tbs. of olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Lay the squash evenly on a sheet tray (without overlapping) and roast for 12-15 minutes.

From Chow Bella: Roasted Delicata Squash Sauce

While the squash is roasting, heat a large saute pan with 3 Tbs. of olive oil.  When the oil is hot add the slivered garlic and saute for 30 seconds.  Add the slivered onion, season with kosher salt and pepper, and slowly cook for 15-20 minutes, until the onions are caramelized.  Add the roasted squash and cook for 1 more minute.  Add the 1/2 of the cheese and turn off the heat.

Prepare spaghettini as directed on box.  When the pasta in nearly done, use a ladle to scoop a generous ladle of the pasta water into the sauce.  Drain the spaghetti and then pour into the pan with the sauce.  Stir all of the ingredients together, adding kosher salt, black pepper and a splash of olive oil as necessary to loosen up sauce. Serve with additional Parmiggiano on the side.

Yield: 2 generous servings

Conclusions: Would definitely try this again, and would be curious to prepare it with radicchio. The squash was a little dried out from the roasting, so I adjusted the recipe above to reflect that, and recommend 1/4 inch slices (even 1/2 inch) vs 1/8 inch in the original recipe. We added a little more olive oil at the table, but this recipe had great flavor. The squash is quite tasty, and not as sweet as butternut squash. Hubs said, “It has good flavor.” Final word: we had some leftovers which Hubs and Sam had for lunch the next day re-heated.