Two Squash Pasta
A cozy, squashy pasta
Ingredients
- ½ pound ground beef
- 1 yellow onion, halved and sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 pound butternut squash, cubed small, ~½"-1" approx. 3 cups
- 1 ½ tsp cumin, ground
- ¼ tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp thyme
- ⅛ tsp ground red pepper more or less to taste
- ⅓ cup tomato paste approx. 3 ounces
- 1½ cup water
- 8 oz pumpkin puree approx. 1 cup or half a can
- ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese plus optionally more for serving
- 8 oz large pasta shells
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- To start - prep your ingredients (chop, slice, dice, measure). Set a large pot of water to boil and heat a large skillet to medium heat.
- Break up your ground beef and add to heated skillet (if you are using a leaner blend of beef, you may want to add some oil to the pan first). Cook about 30 seconds then add your onions and garlic. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Saute for 3 to 4 minutes or until onion is beginning to soften.
- Add your butternut squash to the skillet and stir to combine. Sprinkle on your spices (cumin, smoked paprika, thyme, red pepper) and salt and pepper. Stir to combine. Add your tomato paste, stirring to coat the squash, and allowing the mixture to cook briefly. Pour in 1½ cups of water and bring to a simmer. Cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Cook for10 to 15 minutes or so, stirring occasionally, until squash is fork tender.
- While your squash is simmering, cook your pasta shells - salt your boiling water well and add your pasta to cook, refer to package directions for time (al dente is good here - the shells will cook a little more in the squash later but we want them to be pliable enough to stuff themselves a bit when we add them in). Stir occasionally to keep the larger pastas from sticking together. If your pasta is done before your squash, be sure to save ½ cup of so of cooking water for later.
- Once your squash is cooked to fork tender, stir pumpkin into the mix. Simmer for another 5 minutes or so.
- Add cooked pasta to the squash with ¼ to ½ cup of pasta water (depending on your desired consistency). Stir to combine. Stir in parmesan and simmer for a few more minutes to meld the sauce and shells and serve!