fall squash and ricotta pasta with crunchy walnuts
This fall squash and ricotta pasta with crunchy walnuts is the perfect hearty one-pot meal this season. Healthy, delicious, easy, and perfect for any dinner, lunch, or side dish with any main dish.
400gbutternut squashcut into 3 cm cubes (see notes)
2tspdried oregano
for the sauce:
2tspfresh lemon zest
2tbsplemon juice
1/4cupvirgin olive oil
2tspsumac
2clovesgarlicminced
1/2cupparmesan cheese
1/2tspsalt
1/2cupricotta cheesedrained well (see notes)
for the pasta:
500gpastaI prefer the radiatori shapes (see notes)
2cupsfresh kalechopped into smaller 5 cm pieces (see notes)
salt and water for boiling
salt and pepper for seasoning
Instructions
start by toasting your walnuts:
preheat your air-fryer to 180 C and toast the walnuts for 5 minutes until slightly darkened. tossing halfway to get an even color. When done remove and set aside.
roast your squash:
peel your butternut squash cut in half, remove the seeds and cut into 3 cm cubes. Drizzle some olive oil, and sprinkle the dry oregano and toss until everything is coated with the oil and herb. Roast in 200 C preheated air-fryer for 20 min, tossing halfway. When done remove and set aside.
boil the pasta:
in very salty water boil your pasta according to the package. Before the cooking time in 2 minutes add the chopped kale and mix until it is wilted.
set aside 1 cup of the pasta water and drain the remaining liquid. turn the pasta to the pot.
prepare the sauce:
in a small bowl mix together: the lemon zest and juice, the olive oil, sumac garlic, parmesan cheese, and salt.
turn the heat on the pasta pot on low. add the mixed sauce with 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water. toss the pasta until everything is coated well with the sauce. add more pasta water and mix if needed if you feel that the pasta is still dry. you should be able to see some liquid in the bottom of the pot and the pasta needs to look shiny snd slick with oil.
stir in the ricotta cheese ad toss till a creamy sauce forms. add salt and black pepper to taste ad toss well.
adding the toppings:
remove from heat and toss in the roasted squash. mix the walnuts with the chopped mint. reserve half of the mix for garnish and sprinkle the other half and mix with the pasta.
serve and enjoy:
divide into your serving plates, sprinkle some extra rumbled ricotta cheese on top, and some of the toasted walnut and mint mix. enjoy!
Notes
make this recipe ahead of time: you can toast your walnut and roast the squash up to 3 days before and store it in the fridge. but it is better to cook and enjoy on the spot because the pasta will with time dry out and oak all the sauce.
leftovers: for any leftovers from this recipe you can store up to 4 days and enjoy them from the fridge. as mentioned before the sauce will be soaked by the pasta, you add some water and reheated it in a pan to bring back some of the creamy texture.
walnuts substitute: you can substitute the walnuts with pecans, or almonds, or any nuts of your choice. just make sure you keep an eye on them while toasting because every nut toasting time is different.
butternut squash substitute: if you don't have you can use pumpkin or sweet potato or yams instead of the squash to maintain a similar savory-sweet taste. but you can totally also replace it with any roasted vegetable of your choice.
ricotta cheese substitute: I tested this recipe also with fetta cheese and turned out great! just make sure you don't add any salt before tasting at the end because the fetta is much saltier than the ricotta.
butternut squash substitute: I highly recommend trying the kale in this recipe because it holds better in the heat and tastes great in this recipe but if you don't have kale you can still prepare this recipe with some spinach or chard or any green leaves you like.
pasta shapes: you can use any shape of pasta you like from normal spaghetti, linguine, penne, or any shape you prefer.
air fryer vs oven roasting: I prefer to use my air fryer to roast and toast in this recipe because it is quicker and much fewer dishes to clean. but you can still use the oven to toast the walnuts on 180 C for 9 minutes. and roast the squash cubes for 25 minutes at 200 C.