Butternut Squash Cheesy Stuffed Shells
Today we’re stuffing some pasta with cheesy goodness!
Recently someone told me about a pizza with a butternut squash sauce and I was like, “yum that sounds delicious.”
So I made a butternut squash sauce and put it on…pasta. I haven’t actually put it on pizza yet, mainly because I forgot to buy pizza dough at the store and I didn’t feel like making homemade pizza dough. But butternut squash sauce pizza is in my future.
I actually really don’t like butternut squash just roasted. It has to be put in a sauce. In a sauce it’s gold! In a sauce that you pair with cheese it’s unicorn gold…which is extra special. Obviously.
Man. I feel like I haven’t posted a savory recipe in ages. Much less a recipe with unicorn gold in it.
Sometimes if I wonder if my writing confuses people because I go from serious-ish posts like yesterday’s post to nonsensical posts like today.
Any who.
I really like the process of making stuffed shells. I like the part where you stuff the filling inside the pasta and then line up all the pretty stuffed shells in the pan. For me, it’s soothing and therapeutic or something. It’s like art with food.
I mixed up a filling of ricotta, parmesan, asiago, pepperoni, a pile of spinach and some other things. Spinach just like disappears when you cook it, ya know? It cooks down to a whole lot of nothingness.
So I took that filling and put it onto the canvas (aka pasta shells) AND THEN topped ’em with butternut squash sauce and gorgonzola. Because butternut squash sauce and gorgonzola were MADE for each other Sleepless in Seattle style.
You’re gonna love it! Probably! Unless you don’t like cheese. But if you don’t like cheese you prob shouldn’t be reading this blog because cheese is ever present. Enjoy:)
Butternut Squash Cheesy Stuffed Shells
Yield: serves 4ish
Ingredients:
filling
20 pasta shells
16 oz whole milk ricotta
1/2 cup parmesan, finely grated
1/2 cup asiago, finely grated
2 cups spinach, roughly chopped
2 medium eggs (or 1 large egg)
1/2 cup pepperoni, roughly chopped
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
butternut squash sauce
2 cups butternut squash, roasted & mashed
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp salt
scant 1/4 tsp dried rosemary
toppings
more finely shredded parmesan
gorgonzola cheese crumbles
marinara sauce
Directions:
In the bowl of a food processor, blend together all ingredients for the butternut squash sauce. Set aside.
Boil your pasta! While pasta is boiling, mix together all ingredients for the filling.
Preheat over to 375ºF.
Drizzle olive oil into a baking dish. Stuff the filling into the cooked pasta shells and place nice and cuddly into the baking dish. Top with a dallop of butternut squash sauce + marinara sauce + parmesan + gorgonzola. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. SERVE! (makes super leftovers too!)
(p.s. Did anyone tune into the Jess Lively workshop last night? I really enjoyed it.)