If you’re looking for a new pasta dish, I recommend this pasta with roasted squash, red peppers, and onions. The roasted vegetables add lots of flavor to the olive oil they are cooked in. Add that to the pasta and you have a delicious fall dish!
While some chopping is involved, this is an easy dish to make. The vegetables cook together on one large sheet pan. Make a batch of pasta and assemble the whole dish in a large serving bowl.
A generous amount of fresh baby spinach or another green of your choice adds freshness to the roasted vegetables. For a vegan version, omit the cheese.
This recipe makes about six servings.
Tips
- Use your favorite winter squash, such as butternut, honey nut, acorn, or delicata.
- I recommend a small pasta that can be scooped up with the vegetables on your fork, such as rotini, shells, penne, or farfalle.
- You can substitute another fresh green for the spinach. Arugula would be a nice alternative.
Ingredients
You need the following ingredients to make this pasta with roasted squash, red peppers, and onions.
- 5 cups squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into chunks (1/2 – 1-inch thick)
- 1 medium red onion, peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1 large red pepper, stemmed and seeded, cut into 1-inch chunks
- 1/2 cup olive oil, plus more for final pasta dressing
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt, plus more for pasta water and finishing the dish
- Fresh ground black pepper
- 1 pound pasta, such as rotini
- 4 cups baby spinach
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
Heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Toss the squash, onions, and pepper pieces with 1/2 cup of olive oil. Add about 1 teaspoon of salt and a generous amount of black pepper and stir everything together. Spread the vegetables over a large baking pan. Don’t pile them up. They will roast better if they are spread out in one layer. Roast the vegetables until the squash is tender and everything starts to get a little golden brown around the edges. This will take about 45 minutes.
When the squash is almost done, cook the pasta. Heat water in a large pan. When it comes to a boil, add salt, then the pasta. Cook until it is al dente. Before draining the pasta, reserve a cup of the pasta water.
Put the spinach in a large flat serving bowl.
When the vegetables and pasta are done, add them to the serving bowl. Scrape the olive oil from the baking sheet into the pasta. Add about a 1/4 cup of the pasta water, stir everything together, and add more pasta water bit by bit until the pasta is moist. You might not need all the water. Taste and add salt, pepper, and olive oil as needed.
Serve with Parmesan cheese.
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