Because seriously? I am totally ruling the kitchen today. Here's what I did:
Put on a pot of water and cook around 3/4 pound pasta while you make the sauce. I like penne or mini penne.
Saute 5 pieces of bacon in a large saute pan (non-stick, stainless; doesn't matter)
Remove bacon when crisp and set aside. Nibble a little, but save most of it to add in at the end.
Saute 1 or 2 minced shallots & 1 medium butternut squash, cubed into 1" pieces or smaller, in the bacon fat. You'll probably need to do this in two batches so that you don't crowd the pan. Once just golden brown on one or two sides, remove from pan and add in the second batch. Cook 'til golden brown, then add the first batch back to the pan.
Add 2 T. flour to the pan and stir well to coat.
Add 2 cups chicken stock to pan and swirl to combine with squash/flour mixture. Bring to a boil, then turn down heat to medium. Throw in a few handfuls of washed baby spinach. If you like (and I do), add a splash (maybe 1/4 cup) of heavy cream because yes, I do keep that in my fridge, so there. You can skip it though. That's ok.
Grate in a metric ton of good Parmesan cheese (or whatever suits you) and stir, stir, stir.
Salt & pepper to taste, and don't be shy.
Toss pasta with sauce in pan. Add in crumbled bacon and stir well. If it gets a little thick, just splash in some water or a little more chicken stock to thin it out.
Voila!
Serves 6 hungry people or 8 or 10 as a first course.
Fall food. It's my very favorite. :)
3 comments:
I love your flair for recipes (or not-recipes as the case may be). This seems simple enough that I just might try it. We love bacon in this house, and pasta. The squash may be a hard sell to the kids, but heavy cream? What's a good kitchen without it, right? I seriously have about 4 quarts chillin' in the outside fridge as I type.
Anyway, thanks for the delicious meal idea and for following @BlogHerFood10. Perhaps we'll meet next September? ;D
Best,
Casey
Editor
www.tastestopping.wordpress.com
Well hello Fancy Pants, and thanks for commenting! My kids normally hate bnut squash, but they sucked this down. For real.
To lighten it though (can't eat like this all the time, no matter how much I want to), I'd cut it to two pieces of bacon (it serves 6+, so that's really very little, right?), skip the heavy cream, maybe throw in a splash of milk, and cut back a little on the Parm. I suppose a metric ton is a bit much.
BlogHer Food '10. Rock on sister!
I made this last night and it was great! I used prosciutto instead of bacon (because that's what I had), but it didn't seem to add enough fat! I added a little olive oil to make up the difference. I also used some whole milk instead of cream. Was easy to make and really good! Thanks for the recipe.
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