Spaghetti with baked butternut squash

Ingredients for 2 servings:

• ½ small butternut squash
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 chili pepper(s), red
• 7 tomatoes, dried in oil
• 2 tbsp capers, pickled in salt
• 1 bunch parsley, flat
• 2 handfuls of Parmesan, freshly grated
• 250g spaghetti

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 35 minutes

an Italian-inspired, quick dish

Preheat oven to 220°C (top/bottom heat). Cut the butternut squash into 2-3 cm pieces; it doesn’t need to be peeled. Place in a baking dish, season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Bake for about 20 minutes. Fan-assisted cooking is not recommended, as it dries out too much. Meanwhile, boil the spaghetti water. Thinly slice the garlic cloves. Finely chop the chili. Finely dice the pickled tomatoes. Soak the capers in lukewarm water for at least 5 minutes; otherwise, they will be far too salty and unpleasant to bite into while eating. Heat a large pan and sauté the garlic over medium heat. Be careful not to brown it, or it will become bitter. Add the chili and tomatoes and sauté. Finally, drain the capers and add them. Tip: If you prefer a more tomatoey flavor, you can add 1 tablespoon of tomato paste at this point. When the water is boiling, cook the spaghetti according to the package instructions until al dente, usually for about 8 minutes. However, it is important to ensure that the pasta is not done before the pumpkin. Lift the spaghetti out of the cooking water using pasta tongs or something similar and add it directly to the pan with the other ingredients. Do not drain, as the cooking water clinging to the pasta will make the sauce thick. Add a little more pasta water if necessary and stir everything together. Finally, add the baked pumpkin cubes, Parmesan cheese and parsley and stir in. Serve immediately. Tips: Since the pickled tomatoes, capers and spaghetti water all contain salt and the Parmesan cheese is salty too, additional salting is usually not necessary. You can of course also use regular capers pickled in vinegar. I personally don’t like them and only learned to appreciate capers when I discovered those pickled in salt.