At one of our favorite dinner spots, they recently added this Autumn Bucatini to the menu. I love Bucatini. If you haven't tried it, it is a spaghetti like noodle, but it has a tiny hole through it, like a straw. It makes it thick, chewy and sort of, um, bouncy. To make it a meal, they included roasted butternut squash, brussels sprouts, pancetta, roasted garlic, mushrooms and topped it with fresh ricotta. I ordered it for dinner one night and picked it up to-go the next - so, so good. I decided to replicate it at home and add shrimp, as well, but it stands alone as a very hearty pasta.
There are quite a few steps, and maybe more complicated than our typical weeknight meals, but all in all it was about 45 minutes from start to finish. We also used 5 pans, which made the dish doing more work than usual... but, you can't talk to Mike about that ; )
It does have a tiny bit of pancetta in it, and with all of the recent discoveries about processed meats I thought it would be a good time to share how we are adapting. I am not excited about making any of these adjustments, but here is what we plan to do :
No more entrees of only processed meat (hot dogs, brats, etc.) except on occasion.
Will I have a hot dog at Royals game sometime? Probably. Chili dog in the fall? Yes.
Will I eat a BLT when summer tomatoes are at their best? Yes. Yes!
Will I still use pancetta or bacon to add flavor to a pasta, soup, etc.? Yes.
Will I let Emma or Mike snack on genoa (their favorite...). No, not all of the time. And they're not happy about it ; )
Will I serve or order a side of sausage or bacon for brunch? Not as often... but probably sometimes.
Will we still continue to enjoy high quality beef a couple of times a week as we always have? Yes. We are lucky because the beef we eat comes from my parent's farm/back yard, goes to the butcher in their town and the directly to our freezer.
I'm not sure if this is the right answer, but this is how we will proceed for the time being. How are you adjusting?
Autumn BucatiniButternut Squash, Mushrooms, Roasted Garlic, Brussels Sprouts & Ricotta
1 pound of bucatini pasta
8 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 butternut squash, 1/2" dice
2 cups of brussels sprouts, quartered
1 thick slice of pancetta
1 pound of mushroom
Sea Salt
1/4 cup of cream
Ricotta Cheese
....
Optional : Sauteed Shrimp
Parmesan Cheese
Roasted Garlic :
In a oven proof small bowl, place 6 garlic cloves (mince the remaining 2 and saute with mushrooms) and olive oil. Place in 400 degree oven for 20+ minutes, or until starts to brown. Meanwhile...
Toss the butternut squash in olive oil + sea salt and place on a sheet pan. Roast in the same oven as the garlic for 15 minutes. Ad brussels sprouts and roast for another 20 minutes until all start to crisp and brown.
Boil a large pot of salted water to cook the pasta.
In a large saute pan, brown pancetta until fat is rendered. Add a tablespoon of olive oil with mushrooms and 1 teaspoon of sea salt. Continue cooking until mushrooms are soft. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
When pasta is al dente (almost done), strain it from the cooking water and add it directly to the pancetta and mushrooms. Toss in the butternut squash and brussels. Chop the roasted garlic cloves and add them along with the oil they cooked in. Toss pasta and add sea salt if needed.
Serve with sauteed shrimp (optional) and a dollop of ricotta cheese on top.
Tiny hands love to help.
We peeled some of the brussels sprouts leaves to make them crisp up, along with the quartered ones.
We also love bucatini with bolognese... or anything.
I did a mix of baby bella and shitake mushrooms.
This is what the garlic looked like when I decided it was roasted enough. I let it sit in the hot oil until it was time to chop it. It was so sweet and yummmmy.
I sautéed shrimp in a separate pan, then added at the end.
Now that the sun is setting early, our dinner food photos won't be as beautiful without natural light. Sorry : )
Real family dinner photo. This would be great for a dinner party - all of the elements can be made ahead of time. Just cook pasta and toss together before serving.
Highly unusual photo of Emma actually eating her dinner!
I hope to include more of these "real" food photos in the future. Not as pretty - much easier to just snap before we enjoy rather than recreating the next morning for good light. Do you mind too much?!
