Super Squash, Sage & Shiitake Pasta

Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees C, place the two halves of squash cut side up onto a baking tray. Drizzle over a touch of oil & sprinkle over some seasoning then place the squash into the oven for about 55 minutes or until the squash is soft. 

When the squash is cooked, remove it from the oven and let it cool slightly. 

You can cook the squash a day or two in advance if you’d prefer or you can chop it into chunks and steam it. I like to just throw a squash into the oven when ever it’s on and cooking something else, there’s always a spare shelf to do so.

Give yourself 20 minutes to finish the dish. 

Scoop out the butternut squash flesh first, and place it in a bowl.

Get your pasta cooking in salted boiling water to the packet instructions.

Add the onion, garlic , chilli, sun-dried tomatoes & sage to a blender and blitz until fine, alternatively just slice everything small. Blitzing is just little a bit faster. 

Place a large non stick saucepan over a medium heat, when the pan is hot add a touch of olive oil, followed by the onion mix. Saute with a sprinkling of salt for 3-4 minutes. This is where you develop a great base flavour.

Add the shiitake mushrooms & smoked paprika, and cook for another 3-4 minutes getting them really lovely and golden & crisp…theres nothing worse than soggy mushrooms!!

Deglaze the pan with the balsamic vinegar then add the squash flesh & black pepper. 

Cook for 4 minutes, letting the flavours mingle & getting some lovely colour on the squash. 

I add a small ladle of pasta cooking water to making slightly more saucy then I add the cooked pasta. 

Mix everything together making sure your pasta is coated nicely, then serve up.

I sprinkle over some pumpkin seeds, crispy sage leaves to garnish.

To make crispy sage leaves, simple fry them in a little olive oil for a couple of minutes until crispy.