The ingredients that come together to create this dish are the most wonderful combination of earthy, nutty, sweet, salty, and creamy flavors/textures on the palate that I have ever encountered in a pasta recipe! Having never bought Kale before, I was excited to finally have a recipe that calls for its use. The particular squash I used was in place of a Kabocha Squash, which I was unfamiliar with and unable to find in our grocery store. It was described as being sweet, so I decided that Butternut would make a good substitute.
Below you will find this simple-to-make meal that looks so elegant on the plate, you could imagine ordering it at a great restaurant!
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Brown-Butter Penne Pasta with Squash, Kale, Pancetta, Ricotta, and Pine Nuts
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into bite size cubes
1 bunch of green kale, stemmed
8 slices of pancetta
12 ounce box of penne pasta (we used whole wheat pasta)
4 tbsp. unsalted butter
12 ounces ricotta cheese
4 tbsp. pine nuts
1/8 tsp. nutmeg (my personal addition to the recipe)
Olive Oil
Salt
Directions:
Preheat the over to 400 degrees. Toss the squash cubes with olive oil and salt and spread out evenly on a sheet pan. Roast them in the over for approximately 20 minutes until they are tender.
Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil and add in the kale. Cook for about 4 minutes, then strain and reserve.
In a medium sauté pan, cook the pancetta over medium-high heat until crisp, then remove to a paper towel and reserve.
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook to al dente. Strain and set aside.
In the same pan, heat the butter over medium-high heat and cook until slightly browned. Grate in the fresh nutmeg. Add the squash, kale, and pasta to the pan and stir to combine and heat through.
When ready to serve, scoop the pasta mixture onto plates and top with a spoonful of ricotta, crumbled pancetta, and the pine nuts.
Serves 4-6
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What is very nice about this particular recipe is that the squash, kale, and pancetta can be prepped ahead of time. This leaves time for you to enjoy a glass of wine with your sweetie prior to boiling the pasta and putting it all together, which took a total of 20 minutes.
With this dish, we enjoyed a 2011 Rose from France, which was spectacular!
Note: If you don't think you like Rose, you are probably drinking the cheap stuff! It's totally worth spending a little more to experience this wine's true potential! It was crisp, dry, and had lovely peach and grapefruit notes. We loved how it complimented the sweetness in the squash as well as the richness of the cheese and pancetta.
I must acknowledge the fact that pancetta and pine nuts are NOT cheap! I about fell over when I saw that a 6oz. package of pine nuts was $14.00 at our local grocery store... yikes! Thanks to our friend Tiffany's generous contribution of pine nuts to our cooking cause, we were spared this cost. Without her help, I probably would have left out the pine nuts, or substituted a different nut in its place.
Pancetta is also a pricy purchase at nearly $7.00 for a package of 8, very thin slices of the stuff! I would recommend substituting bacon if you cannot afford the pancetta. It won't taste exactly the same, but it will come close... and who doesn't love crispy bacon anyway?!
I will be adding this to my recipe repertoire in hopes that I have the opportunity to make it again for family and friends in the future :-)
Librarian turned Foodie
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