Creamy Kuri Squash Pasta Sauce

Hello my name is Nancy and I am an addict...... OK not that kind of addict. I am a kuri squash addict, well at least until they are in season. These magical orange winter squash(or is it squashes for plural?) taste so good that they have turned me into an addict. Well at least I am able to admit my addiction, which is the first step in recovery right? hmm.

I can't tell you how glad I am that they are being sold in virtually all of the food stores and produce shops around my neighborhood. I like to be adventurous and try different foods, even if the adventures don't always turn out great (please see previous post.) The kuri squash left me happily surprised, both the look and taste. The taste was just so indescribably good to me, so delicate and lightly nutty at the same time, even just out of the oven on it's own I couldn't stop eating it. I also roasted the seeds as I typically do when I prepare pumpkin. But the seeds I'm not such a fan of, the shells were about twice as thick as normal pumpkin seeds. The taste was good they were just too hard on the teeth and jaw, so we ended up just throwing them out. Has anyone else had the same experience with the seeds, or is it just the ones I bought?

Over the past couple of weeks I have been making several dishes and baked goodies with this squash. But I bought 4 and there are only 2 of us so you can imagine that is just too much squash, well not for me. I roasted and froze the extra to use as I wanted in meals, and I think to my husband's delight there is only a small amount left. Every time he mentions having something for dinner I'm saying oh yeah that would go great with the squash, pobresito ( In Spanish it means you poor thing, ito is male and ita is female). So one of the ideas that popped in my head was making a pasta sauce, I know many people use butternut squash to make sauce with, so why not kuri squash pasta sauce. ( Speaking of sauce please see my note at the end of this post.) I couldn't decide which type of pasta to serve it with so I made two, tricolor Fusilli and Spaghetti. It tasted good with both, but I think we both agreed the spaghetti was the better tasting of the two. I would also recommend it with Ravioli or Tortellini pastas, maybe even better suited than the ones I had at hand.

Ingredients:
yields 4 servings

2 cups (500 grams) cooked mashed red kuri squash
1 cup (8oz or 200 ml) 12% fat cream
3/4 cups water
1 small yellow onion,finely chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. white pepper
1/4 tsp. dried thyme
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tbsp. butter


1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan then add the finely chopped onion and saute until translucent. Next add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes while stirring to prevent burning. Add the salt, white pepper, thyme, oregano and basil to the saucepan and stir well, then add the mashed squash and stir until all ingredients are well incorporated. Slowly pour the water into the saucepan while stirring. Stir until the ingredients have completely combined well, then slowly pour the cream into the saucepan. Again stir until all ingredients are well incorporated.
2. Turn heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes or until ready to serve. Right before serving add the grated Parmesan to the sauce pan and stir well. While the sauce is simmering boil and drain the pasta of your choice. You can either pour sauce over the cooked pasta and stir to combine or just scoop some sauce over the pasta of your choice.

Serve with baguette or Italian bread, butter and Parmesan cheese.

Tricolore Fusilli Pasta with Creamy Kuri Squash Sauce or

Spaghetti Pasta with Creamy Kuri Squash Sauce

Just looking at these is making me want more, good thing there were leftovers.

I would also like to thank Food Pr. Specialists Sauce Communications for sponsoring this post. If I could please ask you to help me thank them by visiting their site, http://www.saucecommunications.com/sauce-pr/