Pasta Aglio Olio With Butternut Squash

In what world can you grate an entire butternut squash AND cook all this in only 25 minutes?

In a world with a food processor.

I just read this recipe, and haven't cooked it yet, but I am anxious to do so. Many of the suggestions sound promising. The addition of spinach or chard seems good, and I think I would roast the butternut squash in chunks, with olive oil, in the oven first, and give it some good caramelization. Many of the comments from Times readers can be as valuable as the original recipes themselves. Thanks, fellow readers.

This was really great, with a few changes. We only 750g of pasta on-hand (recipe calls for 1lb) and ended up with about 8c grated squash (recipe calls for 5c), as well as about 6tb lemon juice (rather than 2). At that increased ratio of squash-to-pasta, and additional lemon juice, it was just right. It benefited greatly from about 3/4c parmesan cheese in the mix and more parmesan and fresh sage for the top. The nuts were a delicious touch!

Butternut Squash peeling tip: I recently discovered that if you put a whole butternut squash in a hot oven for a minute or two and allow to cool to touch, the skin peels off with ease.

I didn't have any nuts, unfortunately, but I did add greens, as another reader suggested--always a good idea. I used sweet potatoes rather than squash. A comforting, flavorful, satisfying weeknight dinner on a cool, dark autumn evening.

Peeling, de-seeding, and hand grating a raw butternut took me 20min. If hand grating, leave the peel on half the butternut - a naked butternut is way too slippery and dangerous. Cook time was longer too. Still, I loved the texture and acidity from lemon. Lots of room to change up with other spices like nutmeg, thyme, cumin, lemon zest so I will make again.

It could’ve been your butternut. As it ages, it loses flavor. I roasted one recently that was tasteless—and realized afterward that the whole squash had felt suspiciously light. Pick heavy (moist inside) ones! :)

For anyone who has to deal with a nut allergy, substitute raw sunflower seeds or pumpkin seeds for the nuts to get the textural component.

I was surprised that no one remarked on the 3/4 cup of olive oil. We do not want to eat that much fat. I cut it to 2-3 TB and added pasta water gradually to help the veggies steam. As I am allergic to nuts, I added pecorino romano at the end, kicking up the flavor in what we found to be a bland recipe.

The squash in the ingredient list is already peeled and grated. The 25 minutes comes after that. I find it very helpful to buy peeled and cubed butternut or any winter squash, including pumpkin, if you find it at your market. Trader Joe’s usually has it this time of year, and so does my local farmers’ market. With this, you can shred the cubes in the food processor. Very quick.

My trusty sous chef peeled and grated the squash, and we used alot more squash and less bowtie pasta as did other commenters. I fried some fresh sage after the chile flakes, used more lemon juice with the nuts/almonds and added a couple TBSPs of goat cheese crumbles at the end. It was very tasty, like butternut squash ravioli with the squash on the outside.

What about using a package of frozen riced butternut squash? I just saw that in the freezer section with the riced cauliflower.

I was excited to make this but didn't end up liking it very much. It was bland, even with the nuts. I added Nom Nom Paleo Magic Mushroom Powder (a great umami booster), and grated a lot of parm over the top, and then it was ok. I'm going to punch up the leftovers by adding roasted veggies and a lot more cheese and baking it for some crunch on top. If I made it again, I'd use a lot more garlic, and add the pasta to the sauce earlier so that it could absorb more of the flavor.

This was okay. I liked the hit of lemon and the nuts, but the steamed squash didn't do much for me. I think this would be far better with thinly sliced and roasted delicata squash or small, quartered roasted brussels sprouts (then skip the steaming, but add the hot pepper flakes, toasted garlic and pasta water to the pasta itself once its done). Also, I think that 3/4 cup olive oil is too much. (I know, this isn't the recipe that's here, but I wasn't that crazy about the recipe as written).