Ready for Fall

Russ and I got back from the beach with his family last night and we ended up with 3 lbs of fresh shrimp and two new cook books! I was too tired when we got back last night to cook, so instead we picked up take out Chinese and are cooking some of the shrimp tonight. There are so many yummy shrimp recipes that I want to try that Russ and I spent part our trip back deciding between the top two. The winner is Rigatoni with Squash and Prawns from an episode of Giada’s show “Everyday Italian” that I caught a couple weeks ago. Butternut squash is one of my favorite foods, so when I saw her make the pasta sauce out of the squash I was sold. Now with fresh shrimp at home this is the perfect opportunity to give this recipe a try.

To make this dish you start by cutting the butternut squash into 1 inch cubes. This is easier said than done as I find it tough to cut the thick skin of the squash, but it is well worth the work. The best way I have found it to cut of the ends to get it flat on both ends and then stand it up. Start at the top and run your knife down it to “peel” it. Once the peel is off scoop out the seeds and cube the flesh. Then sauté the squash cubes in oil with garlic, salt, and pepper for several minutes. Once the squash is tender add the vegetable broth and bring it to a simmer. Continue to let this cook until the squash is very soft. Once the squash is very soft then remove the mixture from the pan and puree it using a blender, food processor, or my favorite the hand blender. While you are making the squash mixture go ahead and get your water boiling for the pasta and cook the pasta. Once the squash mixture is pureed you are ready to cook the shrimp. Add olive oil to the pan and sprinkle the shrimp with salt and pepper and then sauté them for just a couple minutes. I used my new peperoncino oil when sauteing the shrimp for extra flavor. Once the pasta is drained add it to the pan with the squash sauce and add the milk (I used half and half instead of whole milk). I also added some red pepper flakes to give it a little heat. Once the consistency is good then add the basil, cheese and shrimp and cook over low heat until everything is combined and warm.

I decided to keep the side really simple tonight so I went with mixed greens with balsamic vinaigrette (just mix olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt together in a bowl and give it a good whisk and taste).

We really liked this pasta dish as something different from a tomato or cream based sauce. The sauce was creamy and fairly mild, but the heat from the peperoncino oil (thank you Jess and Scott) and red pepper flakes helped. I was a little concerned that the basil wouldn't work as well as sage might, but I liked the basil with the other flavors. The shrimp were tasty and worked well with the rest of the flavors. We still felt like it was missing something to give it a little more flavor and color. While we really liked the butternut squash sauce in this dish we will probably make a different dish next time we are craving butternut squash. Russ rates the dish a 9.

This is the first of many butternut squash dishes for us this season. I love Fall and all the yummy soups, breads, vegetables, and hearty dishes that go with it. Even though I know we still have more hot weather in store for us I am ready for the cooler days of Fall and all the cooking and baking that goes with it. I am also excited to try new recipes out of my new cookbooks and do some fun game day food now that it is football season. While we have dinner plans out the rest of this week and I have volunteer work at night the next two weeks I plan to be back in the kitchen full force soon enough.

A big thanks to Jason, Mary Margaret, and Jane who stopped to pick up the shrimp on their way back from the beach!