Roasted Butternut Squash Feta Pasta
Baked butternut squash and feta with pasta is a great idea for a meatless dinner. Sweet butternut squash and salty feta is an interesting combination of flavors.
Ingredients
- 21 oz/600 g butternut squash chopped into cubes you can replace it with any pumpkin you want
- 7 oz/200 g feta block real feta cheese
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 10,5 oz/300 g short pasta weight before cooking
- one handful basil you can replace it with other herbs
- 1 tsp dried oregano or Italian seasonings
- 1 tsp paprika powder you can use sweet, hot or smoked paprika powder
- 1 tsp black pepper
- salt the amount of salt depends on how salty your feta is
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F/200°C.
- Peel the butternut squash and chop it into cubes.* (note 1)
- Pour olive oil into the bottom of an baking dish and spread it all over the surface. Place a block of feta in the center of a baking dish and add the butternut squash cubes. Place all the butternut squash cubes around it evenly. Add garlic cloves and a little more olive oil. Finish with oregano or Italian seasoning, paprika powder, black pepper, and chili flakes * (note 2)
- Consider how much salt you want to add. If the feta you bought is very salty, salt will not be needed.
- Put the baking dish in the oven and bake for about 35 – 45 minutes.* (note 3)
- While the pumpkin and feta are in the oven, cook the pasta. It is best to cook the pasta al dente.* (note 4) Reserve a 1/4 cup pasta water to mix in with pasta sauce. You may need it later.* (note 5)
- Mash the butternut squash and feta well with a fork or spatula. Add cooked pasta and handful of fresh basil leaves (or other herbs). Mix everything. The ingredients should coat the pasta well. You can finish with more ground black pepper.