Friday, October 5, 2012

Falling Into Pasta


Butternut Squash and Ground  Turkey Pasta
Serves 4 generously
Supper Simple Supper #2
 *5 okay 6  ingredients/ less than 30 min.
Includes a Pantry Splurge
(The garlic and onion are in just about everything I make. The  herbs are not essential but really who wants a bland tasting pasta dish.) 
     As promised here is  the recipe for the butternut squash pasta I made last night.  This came about because my daughter bought  butternut squash to make for Ellie, our 17 month old grand daughter.  Ellie likes ravioli filled with butternut squash but apparently didn't like the butternut squash on it's own. Nessa brought it over because they're not found of it either. Too bad for them. Grand slam for us! So I decided to make it into some kind of pasta dish for supper. It really did look quite "fallish" as I was making it. The flavors were just right and I can tell you that it tasted even better today for lunch.

Ingredients: 
1 TBSP grapeseed oil for pan (You can use PAM or EVOO but I prefer not to use olive oil in applications that  heat the oil.  I read somewhere that olive oil is healthier if used room temp. Grapeseed oil does not have a flavor and has a higher smoke point than EVOO. )
1 onion diced
4 cloves of garlic pressed or grated
*2 cups of butternut squash cut into cubes (could use any other hard skinned squash)
*2 cups of kale roughly chopped  (could use spinach or chard  instead)
*1 lb. of ground turkey (although any lean ground meat would be fine)
*2 large tomatoes diced
*1 TBSP tomato paste
*Spinach pasta I broke it up and used about 4 cups  (I thought that it'd be easier to eat.)

Better if the following are fresh and then they should be coarsely chopped. But if dry, crush in the palm of your hand for several seconds.You could also use a ready made dry Italian herb mixture.
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried oregano 
1/2 tsp. dried sage
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
S/P to taste
1TBSP EVOO for the top of the pasta. (This can be eliminated if you want to cut calories but it does add such a nice flavor and the cheese sticks better to the pasta.)
1/4 cup of parm cheese to garnish (Let's just be honest, I used a lot more than that! I usually put it out on the table and let everyone have at it!)

PANTRY SPLURGE:  Sun dried tomatoes sprinkled over the top garnishes this dish very well.

Steps:
  1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. (I always put a couple bay leaves in the water.)
  2. Dress large skillet with oil. Add onion, garlic and  ground meat.  Breaking the meat with a potato masher is easier than using a wooden utensil or spoon. 
  3.  When onion is soft (about 5 min.), add kale and butternut squash. Stir to combine. (Cook for about another 5 min.)
  4. Mix the tomatoes, tomato paste and herbs in a small bowl.  Stir to combine and then add to meat and squash. Stir gently. Cook until squash is soft but still has a bite about 10 min.
  5. When water boils add a Tbsp. of salt and the pasta. (The package I got said cook pasta  for 3 minutes. I suppose I could have just added pasta to meat and squash mixture. It would have had enough time to get cooked.) Drain and add pasta to meat and squash mixture. Gently toss into the mixture.
  6. ADD SALT AND PEPPER. Toss again.  TASTE.  UNDER SALT SLIGHTLY BECAUSE THE CHEESE WILL ADD PLENTY OF SALTY FLAVOR.
  7. You can lower the heat at this point and put on a lid on if you want to make a salad
  8.  Just before I put the parm cheese, I spritz the top with the EVOO then dust with the cheese.


I made a tossed green salad with celery and cucumbers and green Zebra  heirloom tomatoes. The picture above does not show the tomatoes, the pasta or the cheese that I  added.







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