Pasta with Roasted Butternut Squash and Speck
When the cool weather sneaks in and the colors of nature begin to produce squashes, pumpkins and hearty greens I am compelled to create tasty pasta dishes and soups. I really enjoy the flavor of butternut squash when flavored with small specks of savory cured ham. For this pasta dish, I chose a medium-sized butternut squash and flavored it with savory bits of Speck 
Speck?? What is Speck? I grew up eating prosciutto, pancetta and soppressata.. but Speck was foreign to me. In researching its origin, I discovered this highly prized ham comes from the Tyrol and Aldo Adige region in northern Italy.
The ancient technique of curing dates back to year 1200 and was a featured dish at many feasts and banquets. I was recently introduced to this beautiful ham by my daughter’s friend Louie. His family is from the Aldo Adige region and he grew up eating this ham just as we grew up eating prosciutto. It is still difficult to find this ham in the US but becoming more popular. I was lucky to find some at our local Costco and it was really fun introducing this cured ham to my cooking class. It was just tasty when combined with the roasted butternut squash and pasta. Please try it if you can find it… you can read more about it at Browsing Italy
So let’s get started: peel and cube squash lay out in single layer on cookie sheet, coat with extra virgin oil, season with salt/ pepper. 
Roast squash in oven at 375 degrees until tender and lightly browned.
saute speck with some onion and then combine with cooked pasta, pecorino romano cheese and some pasta water to loosen pasta. Fry some basil leaves until crispy and add to pasta. I like penne or ziti for this dish but linguini fini or rigatoni would work well too. Serve immediately…so easy…so delicioso!! ….so Autumn!
- 1 lb penne pasta
- 1 medium size butternut squash
- 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
- salt/ pepper to taste
- 8oz. sliced Speck or Prosciutto
- 1/2 onion, minced
- 1 cup reserved pasta water or warmed chicken broth
- 1 bunch fresh basil leaves.
- pecorino romano cheese
- peel and cube squash. lay out on cookie sheet in single layer and coat with olive oil and season with salt and pepper
- Roast in oven at 375 degrees until squash is tender and lightly browned, remove from oven, cover with foil to keep warm
- Saute onion in 2 tsp. olive oil until translucent. Add speck and brown lightly. set aside.
- Fry whole basil leaves in 2 tbsp. oil until crispy. drain on paper towel and set aside
- Bring large pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta to boiling water and cook for 8 minutes or until al dente. drain and reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
- Transfer pasta to large serving bowl, add squash, onion and speck mixture. sprinkle with generous amount of pecorino romano cheese, mix thoroughly and add 1/2 cup of reserved pasta water to loosen pasta if too dry… or use chicken broth.
- Sprinkle pasta with fried basil leaves and serve immediately.
- pass more cheese around if desired… Buon Appetito
Kathleen Barbato….3 Italian Sisters♥
