Butternut Squash Carbonara
1hr 30mins
Serves 4
Leftover carbonara sauce can be frozen!
This delicious alternative carbonara recipe is a great way to get some veggies into a usually naughty dinner and butternut squash adds beautiful vibrant colour to the sauce.
To see how to make this fantastic recipe, check out Courtney’s video on our YouTube channel.
Ingredients
- 5 rashers of bacon, chopped
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cubed
- Salt & pepper
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 450ml chicken stock
- 50ml double cream
- 60g parmesan cheese, grated
For the pasta
- 400g plain flour or ’00’ flour
- 4 medium eggs
Method
Add flour to a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add the eggs and start to incorporate with a fork. When the dough starts coming together, turn out on a surface and knead until it comes together. The dough should be a solid dough and not too dry or too wet.
Wrap in cling film or put in a freezer bag and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to rest.
Meanwhile, heat a frying pan on medium-high and cook the bacon until crispy. Remove bacon from the pan and set aside on some kitchen towel.
Leaving the bacon fat in the pan, add in your onions and fry for 2 minutes. Add the butternut squash with salt and pepper, tossing occasionally for around 7 minutes.
Add in the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes. Pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and allow to simmer until the stock has reduced by half and the butternut squash is tender.
Whilst your squash is cooking, remove your pasta dough from the fridge and start the rolling process.
Cut the dough in half and press down flat with your hands. Using a pasta roller (or a rolling pin) start passing the dough through at the widest setting, folding and passing through a few times. Pass the dough through the rollers decreasing the setting on the roller with each pass.
Once you have passed through the finest setting, you are ready to roll through the cutters. Roll through the linguine setting and lay the pasta on a clean surface using a clean tea towel to cover it (this is to prevent it from drying out).
When the butternut squash is cooked, add to a blender and blend with the double cream. Once smooth, add it back to the pan.
Boil a pot of salted water and add your linguine for 90 seconds. When cooked, add the pasta to the sauce in the pan, making sure you reserve some of the pasta water.
On medium heat, add the frying pan with sauce and pasta and toss until the sauce coats the pasta, adding some reserved pasta water to loosen the sauce, if needed.
Toss in 1/3 of the parmesan with some more seasoning to taste. Serve on a plate and top with the remaining parmesan, bacon and some cracked black pepper.
Top Tip – reserve the seeds from the butternut squash and fry them in a tbsp of oil, coat with salt & paprika and enjoy them as a snack.
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