Baked Feta and Butternut Squash Pasta with Sage and Roasted Garlic

Prep Time

10 minutes

Cooking Time

40 Minutes

Yields

4 servings

Ingredients

  • 5 cups butternut squash, cubed *
  • ½ cup avocado oil plus more for rubbing and drizzling
  • 1 head garlic 
  • A scant 1/2 tsp sea salt 
  • 1 hefty pinch Red pepper Flakes *optional*
  • 1 – 8 oz block Feta Cheese**
  • 1 lb whole grain Pasta such as rotini or penne
  • 10 leaves Fresh Sage minced
  • Fresh Cracked Black Pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400F degrees.
  2. Toss butternut squash with avocado oil, salt , and a few cranks of fresh pepper. Rub garlic with a little additional avocado oil. Place the squash in a baking dish and put the block of feta in the middle. Drizzle the feta with a little more avocado oil, red pepper flakes and add a fresh cracks of fresh pepper. Find room in the dish for the garlic and put in whole, stem side down. Bake for 30 minutes.
  3. Once 30 minutes has passed, take the butternut squash feta mixture out of the oven and slightly move the butternut squash and the garlic – be sure not to touch the feta. You just want to make sure the squash isn’t burnt on the bottom. Then, crank the heat up to 450 and bake for another 5-10 minutes or until the feta is slightly browned. (If the garlic feels soft and looks done, you can take it out at the 30 minute point – if it needs an additional 5-10 minutes, leave it in.)
  4. Meanwhile, boil pasta in salty water. Once it’s al dente, strain and save 2 cups of the pasta water.
  5. Once the feta is browned, remove the baking dish from the oven and squeeze the garlic into the dish, add the sage leaves. Now add the pasta and 1 cup of pasta water and stir everything together.
  6. If the pasta seems dry, add more of the reserved pasta water, little by little, until the sauce is creamy and smooth. Season the whole thing with more salt and pepper!

Notes

*You can buy butternut squash already cut into cubes. This is what I always do because it is HARD to cut up that raw butternut squash!

** I’ve made this with Boursin (garlic and fines herbes or shallot and chives) instead of feta and it comes out delicious as well! Even a little creamier.