Meatless Monday: Pappardelle Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash

This entry was posted on Dec 7, 2015 by Charlotte Bell.
meatless monday
I’ll admit I’m a cookbook junkie. I probably inherited this trait from my maternal grandmother, who kept a tall stack of Gourmet magazines on a little bench that I inherited some years ago. She just enjoyed reading them. I’m the same way. I love to read cookbooks, even though I may never get around to making the recipes I read.
So even with a veritable library of vegetarian and vegan cookbooks, I still wander away and read magazines too. Today’s recipe comes from the September 2015 issue of Vegetarian Times. The original recipe says this takes 30 minutes or less, and it probably does if you use packaged, already-diced squash. I prefer to dice the squash myself. It feels fresher to me that way, and if cooking with organic ingredients is important to you, you’ll probably need to process the squash yourself. Peeling and dicing the squash took about 10 minutes.
This recipe is definitely a keeper. The combination of flavors—roasted squash, garlic, sage, chard and browned butter—is rich and complex. It’s sweet, savory and warming, all at once. My partner raved about it!
If you’re on a gluten-free diet, you can make this with gluten-free pappardelle pasta. Here are some sources: Pastamoré and Nan’s Gourmet Foods.

Meatless Monday: Pappardelle Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash

  • 2 12-oz. pkg. peeled, cubed butternut squash, cut into dice, 1 ½-inch pieces (6 cups)
  • 2 Tbs. olive oil
  • ⅛ tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 8 oz. pappardelle pasta
  • 1 12-oz. bunch rainbow chard, stems chopped, leaves cut into ribbons
  • 4 Tbs. unsalted butter
  • 16 whole fresh sage leaves
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced (2 tsp.)
  • ¼ cup shaved Parmesan cheese, optional

1 | Preheat oven to 450°F. Place squash on large rimmed baking sheet, and toss with oil. Sprinkle with nutmeg and season with salt and pepper, if desired. Roast 20 to 25 minutes or until squash is tender, stirring occasionally.
2 | Meanwhile, cook pappardelle in large pot of boiling salted water according to package directions, adding chard stems and leaves during final 2 minutes of cooking. Drain pappardelle and chard, reserving 1/2 cup cooking liquid. Return pappardelle and chard to pot.
3 | Heat butter in medium skillet over medium-high heat 4 minutes, or until butter browns, stirring occasionally. Add sage and garlic; sauté 5 seconds. Pour browned butter over pappardelle and chard; add squash, and toss to coat. Add reserved cooking water as needed to moisten pappardelle. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Top with Parmesan (if using).

September 2015 p.20

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About Charlotte Bell
Charlotte Bell discovered yoga in 1982 and began teaching in 1986. Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life: A Guide for Everyday Practice and Yoga for Meditators, both published by Rodmell Press. Her third book is titled Hip-Healthy Asana: The Yoga Practitioner’s Guide to Protecting the Hips and Avoiding SI Joint Pain (Shambhala Publications). She writes a monthly column for CATALYST Magazine and serves as editor for Yoga U Online. Charlotte is a founding board member for GreenTREE Yoga, a non-profit that brings yoga to underserved populations. A lifelong musician, Charlotte plays oboe and English horn in the Salt Lake Symphony and folk sextet Red Rock Rondo, whose DVD won two Emmy awards in 2010.