Butternut Squash Pasta

I really like this pasta. It's relatively simple, and it gets a vegetable inside my kids without much fuss! The original source is here at Food.com. I have made it with chicken just as the recipe calls for but more often I leave it out so we can have a good meatless meal every now and then. Both ways are good!

Because the trickiest part of this dinner prep is the squash I made a little picture tutorial. (The orange is in there to help you see the actual size of the squash). It's really not hard, but being such a slippery and awkwardly shaped vegetable you want to be very careful.

Now here's what you can do with that squash!

Ingredients:

1/4 C. extra virgin olive oil (I bet butter would be great here, I think I'll try that next time)
1 large onions, chopped
3 large garlic cloves, finely chopped or minced
2 lbs chicken breasts, cut into 1 in. pieces.
1 small butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1/2 in. pieces
1 tsp. fresh rosemary (I have only ever used a sprinkle of dried rosemary and it works great)
3 1/4 C. chicken broth (seems like allot but trust me, it's okay!)
12 ounces pasta (I usually just use the whole 16 oz. package of whatever I have - I don't like almost empty pasta boxes in my cupboard)

What to do:

In a large fry pan heat oil oven med/high heat. Add onions and saute for a few minutes to soften them up. Add the garlic and chicken and cook until done. Add squash and rosemary and saute for about 10 minutes (I'm not sure what the significance of this step is...maybe you could go ahead with adding the liquid and save yourself 10 minutes).

Add broth and bring to a simmer. Lower heat and allow to simmer until squash is tender and liquid is reduced by about half. Stir occasionally. This will take 10 to 15 minutes Following is a picture of my squash when it was done, I guess I wanted to show the 'line of reduction'. You can see that some of the broth has evaporated, but it certainly doesn't look like half - it never does.

While doing all the above, you'll want to also cook your pasta "according to package directions". I like penne pasta with this, but you'll see that I used bow tie! The kids have been interested in different shaped "noodles" and it helps them eat more. (Side note - I can't find alphabet pasta anywhere!! It's getting very frustrating).

Anyway, you actually want your pasta to still be a little firm to the bite. Drain it, and then mix it with the squash mixture in a large bowl. I would suggest smashing some of the squash pieces first, or I smashed it all this last time - the kids eat more of the veggie that way. Toss the pasta, let it sit for a little bit and toss again. The past will finish cooking in the sauce, soaking up the excess broth, and there you go! Dinner!