Butternut Feta Pasta

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 500 g pasta, short
• 1 medium butternut squash
• 1 large onion(s)
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1 feta cheese, approx. 180 g
• olive oil
• n. B. Thyme
• salt and pepper
• e.g. nutmeg
• 1 handful of parsley

Instructions

Working time approx. 25 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 5 minutes

vegetarian and good for stocking up

Peel the pumpkin and cut into walnut-sized pieces. Peel the onion and roughly chop into 1-2 cm pieces. Peel and halve the garlic. Toss the vegetables with olive oil and thyme and place in a large baking dish. Place the feta in a well. Bake at 200°C fan/convection oven or 220°C top/bottom heat for about 30 minutes. The pumpkin and garlic should be soft; the onion should still have some structure, and everything should be dark brown, even at the edges. After baking, mash the vegetables and feta with a potato masher until coarsely ground. The onions can still be visible, but make sure the garlic is evenly distributed. This mixture freezes well or stores in the refrigerator, so it’s worth using a whole pumpkin even if you’re single. I calculate about 200g per serving. Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, using relatively little water. Two minutes before the end of the cooking time, heat the vegetable mixture in a saucepan and thin it with a little of the pasta water until a creamy sauce forms. Season the sauce with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Salt is usually not needed, as the pasta water is already quite salty. If the pasta is cooked with a lot of salt (“salata come il mare”), season it while diluting and thin it with tap water if necessary. Drain the pasta and let it simmer in the sauce until al dente. Stir in the finely chopped parsley and serve.