Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta | Easy Recipe, by Giovanni Siracusa on YouTube. 9 min 15 s.
- Video length
- 9 min 15 s
- Time to do it
- 40 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 9
What you need
Steps
Chop the onion, carrot and celery into small pieces. Peel the potatoes and butternut squash and cut both into cubes of about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm). Grate the cheese and warm the broth.
Coat the bottom of a large pot with a generous drizzle of olive oil and set it over medium heat. Add the onion, carrot and celery and sauté until softened, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Add the tablespoon of tomato paste and stir it into the vegetables. Cook for about 1 minute, until it darkens slightly and smells sweet.
Tip in the cubed potatoes and butternut squash and stir everything together for another minute. Season with salt.
Pour in enough vegetable broth to cover the vegetables, about 6 cups. Bring it to a gentle simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes and squash start to soften.
Add the pasta straight into the pot. Top up with more broth as needed so the pasta is covered and has enough liquid to cook in.
Simmer until the pasta is al dente, stirring often. The potatoes and squash will break down and thicken the liquid into a creamy sauce that coats the pasta.
Turn off the heat and stir in a handful of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano until it melts into the sauce.
Spoon into warm bowls and finish with more grated cheese, a thread of olive oil and a little black pepper.
Tips and common mistakes
Cut the potatoes and squash into even cubes so they soften at the same rate as the pasta cooks.
Keep the extra broth hot and add it a ladle at a time, the pot should stay loose enough for the pasta to move.
Stir every couple of minutes, because the released starch makes the base catch and scorch on the bottom of the pot.
Keep your fingers curled and the knife blade angled away from them when you cube the squash, as the raw flesh is hard and slippery.
Questions
Can I use a different pasta shape?
Yes. Short shapes such as ditalini, small shells or broken spaghetti work well. Pasta mista is simply a mix of short shapes, often the odds and ends from several packets.
Why is there no cream in the sauce?
The potatoes and squash break down during cooking and release starch, which thickens the broth into a sauce that clings to the pasta.
Can I make this dish vegetarian?
Use a vegetable broth with no meat or fish and check that your Parmigiano or hard cheese is made with a vegetarian rennet.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
