Butternut Squash Alla Vodka With Fried Prosciutto

pasta / gluten free /quick meals

Nothing says it’s fall like using butternut squash in all your recipes. This butternut squash alla vodka is the perfect cold weather dinner that’s insanely creamy and give you all of those magical autumn flavors!

The trick to getting this autumn-inspired vodka sauce so creamy is roasting the butternut squash along with some cherry tomatoes and shallots until they are soft and caramelized and then blending them before adding them into the sauce. The sage and thyme herbs amp the flavors up in the puree and transform a pretty traditional vodka sauce.

For pasta, I am OBSESSED with Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Organic Brown Rice Penne. I make it for my husband all the time, and he absolutely loathes pasta that doesn’t taste like the real thing. I can never give him any red lentil or cassava flour pasta, because he can tell immediately. This is one of the only pasta’s I’ve made where he truly can’t tell. That makes him think he can eat pasta for every meal, but is he wrong?

Butternut Squash Alla Vodka With Fried Prosciutto

(makes 1 lb pasta)

ingredients:

• 1 lb gluten free pasta noodles (or any noodles your heart desires)

• 1 1/2 cups butternut squash, peeled and cubed

• 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes

• 1 shallot, sliced

• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp olive oil

• 1/2 cup broth (+ more if needed)

• 3-4 slices of prosciutto, chopped

• 2 tbsp butter

• 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin

• 1/4 cup vodka

• 1 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 cup milk or cream (can be plant based)

• 1/3 cup reserved pasta water

• 1 tbsp thyme

• 1 tbsp sage

• pinch of red pepper flakes

• pinch of nutmeg

• salt & pepper

directions:

1. preheat oven to 425 F.

2. toss the butternut squash, cherry tomatoes, and sliced shallots with 1/4 cup olive oil, some salt & pepper, thyme and sage. roast for 20 minutes, stirring them on the baking sheets halfway through.

3. while the veggies are roasting, start to boil your water for the pasta and make your sauce.

4. in a large sauce pan, heat a little bit of olive oil on medium heat. add in the sliced prosciutto pieces and cook until they become crispy. set aside on a paper towel to absorb some of the oils.

5. add the butter the same large saucepan you cooked the prosciutto in and lower the heat to medium low. throw in the garlic and red pepper flakes once the butter is slightly browned. add in the tomato paste, stir, and let it cook for a few minutes.

6. add in the vodka and let it cook down for another few minutes so it gets rid of the boozy taste.

7. once your butternut squash is done cooking in the oven, add it to a blender or food processor with the broth and blend on high until it forms a puree. if it seems too thick, add in a another tbsp or so of broth.

8. add the butternut squash puree to the sauce pan along with the nutmeg. cook until it starts to bubble.

9. add in half of the milk or cream slowly. stir it in until it is fully incorporated. once the sauce starts to thicken back up, add in the rest of the cream/milk. once the sauce thickens again, add in the pasta water and cook for another few minutes.

10. toss the pasta into the sauce pan and serve the fried crispy prosciutto on top!

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