Groovy Recipe: Baked Butternut Squash Pasta

This year, I made the decision to become a full-on vegetarian.  Babydoll absolutely refuses to eat meat or poultry, and since I'm cooking for just the two of us most days, why bother buying it?  It's been 21 days, and except for the occasional cheeseburger craving, I'm not missing the meat.  I came up with this dish after seeing something similar on Pinterest.  It was one of those dishes that sounded great in theory, but after I read the recipe, I knew it wouldn't work.  Thus, I experimented with my own.  Voila.

Why do people do that, by the way?  Post recipes that don't work?  I made a dish off Pinterest last week, and it sucked.  The proportions were way off.  I'm a fairly competent home cook, so I know it isn't (always) my fault that a dish doesn't turn out.  I always test my recipes before I post them.  I don't want an angry mama screaming at me that my quinoa quiche was a big piece of crap.  Food bloggers, beware.  I'll call you out if your recipe wastes my time and resources.

Anyhoo.

Pre-baked beauty

Baked Butternut Squash Pasta

* 8 servings

Ingredients

1 bag whole wheat bowtie pasta (farfalle)

2 cups vegetable stock

1 cup butternut squash puree

1 cup butternut squash, petite dice

1 medium onion, petite dice

4 cloves garlic, minced

2 cups fresh spinach, chopped

1 cup low-fat ricotta

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 cup shredded mozzarella

2 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix ricotta with salt, pepper, and crushed garlic.  Set aside.

Cook pasta to al dente according to package direction.  While pasta is cooking, melt butter and olive oil in a large pot over high heat.  Add in onions; season with salt and pepper.  Cook onions until they are almost caramelized (about 10 minutes), then add in minced garlic.  Reduce heat to medium and pour in the stock.  Bring to a simmer, then stir in the diced squash.  Let simmer until the squash is very tender and the liquid reduces by about a third.  Smash down the squash slightly, using the back of your spoon or a potato masher.  Stir in the squash puree.  Bring back to a simmer.  Stir in the spinach and let simmer for a few minutes.  Remove from heat.

Mix the sauce with the pasta.  Spread half of the pasta in the bottom of a good-sized casserole dish.  Layer the ricotta over the top (it's pretty hard to spread the ricotta, so I just drop it in spoonfuls on top, then smash it down with the back of the spoon).  Pour the rest of the pasta on top, then sprinkle the mozzarella over it all.  Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes or so.  Grub.

The kid ate all of hers and almost half of mine.  That tells me it's a winner.