Last week I blogged that my parents had come to visit and brought not only some cheese they had purchased in bulk from a local Mennonite auction, but a few other things, including containers my Dad had pulled out of the freezer and brought to me without my mother immediately knowing. They were labeled "Squash" on the top by a hastily scribbled marker. That's all I knew about them.
I honestly thought I'd probably whip up a cream soup out of the squash. It was already baked and scraped into this container, then frozen. But when I opened the container yesterday I had another idea. Pasta. I love making homemade spinach pasta, so why not take the same idea and use squash in its place? Let's go!
Homemade Spinach Pasta
Homemade Butternut Squash Pasta
1 egg
1/2 t olive oil
4-5 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and briefly cooked
or 1/2 - 3/4 c butternut squash puree - already baked and scraped from the shell
Place into the bowl of a food processor and whirl until smooth.
Add 1 1/2 c flour
1/2 t salt
Process just until it gathers to a ball. Let set 10 minutes before working with it.
Roll it out very thin on a lightly floured surface, or if you have an Italian pasta machine, roll it out in portions starting at 1 and thinning it down to a 3 or 4. If you have rolled it thin by hand, now use a pizza cutter to slice it into 1/2 inch strips, or even 1 inch if you like your noodles wide. With the pasta machine, make it into noodles if you have the attachment or lay it out and use the pizza cutter as well. This pasta is also perfect for making homemade ravioli with if you cut it into squares, fill and seal instead of slicing into pasta strips. Use right away by dropping in boiling water and boiling for about 8 minutes. Toss with butter, salt and pepper or your favorite sauce or use in a chicken noodle soup! If you want to let them dry, just let them dry on the counter overnight, flipping the next morning and continuing to dry or if you have a pasta drying rack, let hang over night or to the next day until dried. Store in a sealed ziplock in the freezer until use.
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| Stop processing when it forms a ball |
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| Butternut Squash pasta, Spinach Pasta and a blended squash/spinach pasta dough |
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| In order from the left; Squash/Spinach Pasta, Spinach Pasta and Butternut Squash Pasta
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