November 2024

Linguini and Roasted Squash bake with Great Frogs Silopanna Red

Freshly cooked pasta or leftover works in this entrée. The wonderful versatile squash brings a buttery, nutty flavor, blended with cheese, spinach and cream, then baked, bringing all these flavors together. Warm crusty bread with green vegetable such as asparagus or broccoli accompany very nicely. No meal would be complete with out a Great Frogs varietal. This entrèe is paired with Great Frogs Siloppana Red. enjoy!

Ingredients

One medium onion

Half cup mozzarella, shredded

Half cup Parmesan shredded

One cup cream, or half-and-half

2 cups chopped spinach

One to two cloves, garlic

4 cups cooked pasta. I used linguini.

One baked, buttercup, squash

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

Cut squash in half, remove seeds. Place upside down on parchment paper lined pan. Place in oven at 350° for 45 minutes. When tender removed from oven.

Meanwhile, Sauté medium chopped onion in a little oil. Slowly sauté until slightly browned.

Remove onion from pan, place in large bowl, and set aside. In the same pan, gently sauté chopped spinach, until wilted. Add wilted spinach to bowl with onions.

Add precooked pasta to bowl, making sure it is well drained.  Next add cheeses.

Place cream in blender with garlic cloves, blend until smooth. Add to mixture. Gently stir mixture.

Remove squash from skin, if dry enough, crumble in pieces or cut in half-inch pieces. Next, gently add squash to mixture and stir carefully.

Large glass baking bowl, or baking dish, lightly spray, fold in pasta mixture. Bake at 400° for 20 minutes or until completely heated through and slightly browned on top.

Notes: this dish allows you to accompany with a meat of your choice, add cooked chicken into the mixture before baking, or chickpeas are a nice addition as well. Squash choice is important here. Buttercup, (not to be confused with the more common butternut), some squash are to light lacking density and intensity of flavor. Buttercup and Hubbard squash both have density with rich buttery/ nutty flavor.