SQUASH GOATS CHEESE PASTA

We eat a lot of goats cheese in our house, Arabella likes to eat slices of it as her afternoon snack and I reckon I could get her to eat most things as long as it was covered in goats cheese. Therefore when I found a recipe for a new goats cheese pasta dish, I had to try it out. This is from the waitrose magazine and is perfect to cook now as squash is in season. It took around 40 minutes.

Ingredients for 4 people:

3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely sliced
1 tsp of salt
3 rosemary sprigs, leaves finely chopped
600g butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 1cm chunks (I cheated and bought it already prepared)!
150ml vegetable stock
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg, plus extra to serve (I used used ground nutmeg)
250g dried pasta such as spaghetti, pappardelle or tagliatelle
200g soft goats cheese
50g freshly grated Parmesan, plus extra to serve
3 tbsp pine nuts, toasted

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and add the onion, salt and 2/3 of the rosemary. Sweat gently for 5 minutes, until starting to soften and then stir in the squash.

Pour in the stock, then cover with a tight fitting lid and cook over a medium heat for 12-15 minutes until tender.

If you are using dry pasta, after about 7-10 minutes, put this on.

I also dry fried the pine nuts in a frying pan at this point - it took about 4 minutes - keep an eye on them as they can burn very quickly.

Uncover and mash to a rough puree with a wooden spoon and stir in the nutmeg.

When the pasta is ready, drain but set aside a cupful of the cooking water. 

Mix the pasta with the squash and both cheeses, stirring to coat, adding enough cooking water to make a loose, creamy sauce.

Divide between the bowls and sprinkle with the pine nuts, reserved rosemary and a splash of olive oil.

This was brilliant - the squash and goats cheese combination is heavenly and the extra nutmeg, pine nuts and rosemary all give it that little something extra. Best dish I have cooked in a while. Arabella and I both licked our bowls clean. I cant recommend this recipe enough!

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