Roasted pumpkin and bacon pasta

Ingredients

1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
4 slices of bacon, diced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tsp of thyme
1/2 cup of cream
2 tbsp of olive oil
Cooked pasta for 4

Preheat oven to 200 degrees

Add butternut squash, thyme, garlic, bacon and olive oil to a bowl and mix well.

Place the mixture on a baking dish and roast in the oven for 30 minutes.

Pour mixture into a saucepan and add the cream. Season with salt and pepper.

Add cooked pasta to mixture and serve.

I love eating pumpkin, and I suspect it’s because of the pumpkin noodles my mom makes at home which i have been eating all my life. Of course, in those days, life was simple, in that all I had to do is eat the food placed in front of me. It’s only when I started cooking that I realised how bloody difficult it is to peel the damn thing.

Anyway, I had leftover pumpkin from the pasta dish I made a couple of days back and I decided to use it up today. I didn’t want to make sauce with the pumpkin in that I wanted chunks of pumpkin so I modified this recipe in one of my cookbooks to come up with this.

There’s no need for bacon if you want it to be a vegetarian dish. Frankly, I added it because I have been unusually tired for the last couple of days and I suspect it’s because I have been eating less meat. Oh and I had leftover pumpkin ravioli and I decided to use it as the pasta for this dish.

Roasted pumpkin, feta and rocket pasta

Taken from Bowl Food

Ingredients

1.2 kg butternut peeled and cut into 2 cm cubes
1 tsp fresh rosemary
4 cloves garlic crushed
2 tbsp olive oil
500g penne
20g butter
1 large red onion sliced
1 tbsp honey
1/2 cup chicken stock
200g feta, crumbled
100g fresh rocket leaves

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees. Place the pumpkin in a roasting tin with the rosemary, garlic and 1 tbsp olive oil, and toss to coat. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the pumpkin is soft and golden. Season.

Meanwhile, cook the penne in a large saucepan of lightly salted boiling water until al dente. Drain, return to the pan and stir in the butter. Keep warm.

Heat the remaining oil in a frying pan over medium heat, add the onion and cook for 3-5 minutes, then add the honey and cook for 2 minutes or until the onion starts to caramelise. Add the stock and simmer gently for 5-7 minutes, or until reduced slightly.

Add the roast pumpkin to the onion mixture, stir to combine, then add to the pasta with the feta and rocket. Toss to combine and season to taste.

While I do like the contrast between the sweetness of the pumpkin and the sharp taste of the feta, I am not too sure that I appreciate the addition of honey. I suspect it’s a question of taste. I intend to remove honey from this dish if i do cook it again.

Curried butternut squash soup

What is more heartwarming than a tangy and spiced butternut squash soup? A curried version! I love this – this is great for winter, maybe the former is better for autumn.
I’ve adapted this recipe from a slew of recipes I found online.

Ingredients
4 teaspoon of butter
1 butternut squash 
2 apples – 1 granny smith, 1 red
1/2 cup of apple cider (you can substitute with apple juice if you can’t find apple cider I guess)
3 cups of chicken broth
1 super large onions (or 2 small ones, hee)
3 teaspoons of curry powder
salt and pepper

Steps
1. Cut squash into half, scrape away fibers and seeds, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil and roast in oven for 30 minutes. spoon out the squash (removing the skin would now be easy).

2. melt butter in saucepan, add onions and curry powder and cook on low heat until onions are tender.

3. Add apples and half the chicken broth. Simmer till apples are tender.

4. Add squash and apple cider. Simmer for 10 minutes.

5. Leave to cool before blending in food processor (or hand blender). Use remaining chicken broth to play around with the consistency of the soup. For me, I didn’t have to use any additional broth at all!

6. Bring to a simmer again in saucepan and add salt and pepper to taste.

YUMS YUMS YUMS!

Jeff’s score : 8/10

Cream of butternut squash soup

Cook 900g of butternut squash, peeled and cubed in olive oil for 2-3 minutes, coating it completely with oil. Add 1 finely chopped onion, 1 finely chopped leek, 1 finely chopped carrot, 4 garlic cloves finely chopped and 2 finely chopped celery sticks into the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Cover the vegetables with 1.7 litre of chicken stock and bring to the boil. Season with salt and pepper and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg. Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes until all the vegetables are tender. Blend the mixture. (I like my soups to be a bit chunky, with bits and pieces of the vegetables so I don’t blend it till it forms a smooth puree.) Adjust the seasoning, add 140 ml of cream. Bring the soup to boiling point, add 1/4 tsp of chilli powder and serve with a swirl of cream on top and warm bread.

Roasted butternut squash risotto

First peel the butternut squash and chop it into 2 cm cubes. Pour 2 tbsp of olive oil into a roasting tin and place into preheated oven 190 degrees for minutes. Add the buttersquash and 5 cloves of garlic unpeeled and whole. Roast for 25-30 minutes. Cook 275g of arborio rice in olive oil at high heat for a few seconds. Add a pinch of saffron and 150 ml of white wine and bubble fiercely until the wine has evaporated. Meanwhile heat 1 litre of chicken stock in a separate saucepan and keep it at a steady simmer. Reduce the heat till low, and add the chicken stock ladle by ladle till the rice is cooked. Turn off the heat and stir in 1 tbsp of fresh parsley finely chopped, 1 tbsp of fresh oregano finely chopped, parmesan cheese and seasoning. Cover and leave to stand for 203 minutes. Remove the skins from the roasted garlic, add it to the risotto with the butternut squash and mix gently. Serve with parmesan cheese.

 I like how the natural sweetness of the butternut squash complements the richer flavours of the cheese and saffron.