Pasta with Butternut Squash Sauce

This is a tasty and versatile method for a fairly low-cal and vegan pasta sauce with Asian spices. You can adjust it to go more Italianish in the spices, and use chicken broth and add meat and cheese if you like, but it was pretty flavorful as is. Per usual, I made up the amounts based on looking at various recipes and ratios of liquid to dry ingredients, then estimated what I had and winged it–be creative.

Ingedients

1 medium-large or two small butternuts, peeled, seeded and cubed (3 or 4 cups)
2 T. coconut oil or olive oil
1 medium-large yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
2-3 cups vegetable broth (you may choose to add a cup of yogurt later to make it a creamy sauce, or add some cheese, so I would start with two cups of broth–it’s easier to add more later if it’s too thick than to try to cook it down or thicken it up, and the consistency of the squash may vary)
1 t. turmeric
1/2 t. fresh ginger, minced or grated
1/4 t. cumin seed
1/4 t. coriander
1/2-1t. dried chilis, crushed
salt and pepper to taste

1 lb. rice or wheat noodles, cooked
1/3-1/2c. sundried tomatoes, chopped
fresh cilantro (for garnish
fresh chives (for garnish)

Preparation

1. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Peel the halves with a vegetable peeler or sharp knife and cut the flesh into smallish pieces.

2. Heat oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat and add onions, garlic and squash. Saute about 10 minutes until onions soften and turn translucent.

3. Add the turmeric, ginger, cumin, coriander chilis, salt and pepper and cook for a few more minutes.

4. Add the broth, cover and cook about 10-15 minutes, until squash is soft.

5. While the squash is cooking, prepare your noodles. I used rice noodles that were left over, so they only required a reheat in hot water.

6. Using a stick blender, puree the squash. If you don’t have a stick blender, add it to your wish list now. In the meantime, you may use a regular blender or food processor, working in small batches. If the sauce is thicker than you would like, consider adding a bit of plain yogurt to make it a creamy sauce, or more broth.

7. Pour some of the sauce over your noodles and gently fold them together–I used less than a pound of noodles, so there was more sauce than I needed (it was delicious for lunch the next day, like soup). Add the dried tomatoes and fold thos in as well. Garnish with cilantro and chives.