Butternut Squash Carbonara
If you love carbonara, you will love this! It is amazingly creamy and loaded with crispy pancetta and fried sage leaves!
So we lost the World Series.
We’re absolutely devastated. Even though we kind of knew that the Red Sox was going to win.
One can only be so hopeful, right?
So don’t mind me. I’m drowning my sorrows, all of my sorrows, in this seasonal carbonara.
It has all the crispy pancetta one can need with the best part ever:
Fried freaking sage leaves.
Yes, yes, yes. And the sauce is so incredibly rich and creamy with the help of the butternut squash puree.
Helpful tip: you can actually use canned butternut squash puree, which cuts the prep time down by an hour at least!
Butternut Squash Carbonara
Ingredients
- 12 ounces spaghetti
- 4 ounces diced pancetta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ⅓ cup fresh sage leaves
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 1 cup butternut squash puree
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Instructions
- In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions; reserve 1 cup water and drain well.
- Heat a large skillet over medium high heat. Add pancetta and cook until brown and crispy, about 4-6 minutes; set aside. Reserve excess fat in the skillet.
- Heat olive oil with reserved excess fat. Add sage and cook until crisped, about 3-5 seconds; set aside.
- Add garlic and shallot, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 2 minutes.
- Stir in butternut squash puree and 1/2 cup reserved pasta water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until slightly thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
- Working quickly, stir in pasta, Parmesan and egg, and gently toss to combine; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Add additional reserved pasta water, one tablespoon at a time, until desired consistency is reached.
- Serve immediately, topped with pancetta and sage.
Did you make this recipe?
Tag @damn_delicious on Instagram and hashtag it #damndelicious!