My Newfound Love Affair With Squash

With the change of the season brings the excitement of new seasonal vegetables. As much as I miss heirloom tomatoes, basil and zucchini, I look forward to welcoming broccoli, sweet potatoes and winter squash into our home! Believe it or not I haven't always been a fan of squash. I know... crazy right!?! Well now that I am fully invested in CSA I have made it my mission to try to enjoy squash. I wanted to try incorporating squash into recipes rather than just having pureed squash, not that there is anything wrong with that! I am happy to say that I found a winner!! This recipe, like all the recipes on this blog, can be adapted to suit your taste. 

Penne With Braised Squash and Greens

Ingredients

• 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
• 4 ounces smoked tofu, cubed
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch cubes(about 3 cups)
• 1 small bunch Swiss chard, stems removed, leaves cut into 1 inch pieces
• 8 ounces whole wheat penne, rigatoni or fusilli pasta
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
• freshly ground pepper to taste

Directions

1. Put a large pot of water on to boil for cooking pasta.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add tofu and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate. 
3. Add onion to the pan; cook, stirring often, until softened and golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Add garlic and crushed red pepper; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.
4. Return the tofu to the pan and add broth and squash; bring to a simmer. Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
5. Add chard and stir to immerse. Cover and cook until the squash and chard are tender, about 5 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, cook pasta until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes or according to package directions. Drain and return to the pot. 
7. Add the squash mixture, Parmesan, salt and pepper. Toss to coat.

I'm so glad that I found this recipe because I LOVE it! The best part about this recipe is that it is easy to adapt to your liking or change it according to what you have for ingredients. For example, I have never seen smoked tofu nor do I have any interest in trying it anytime soon! My family loves tofu so I always have it in my fridge. So for this recipe I use firm or extra firm tofu. Now I'm sure a lot of you are thinking, 'I hate tofu!', and that's fine. I have not tried this recipe with chicken, since we don't eat meat, but I don't see any reason why you couldn't use chicken in place of the tofu. Of course you could also leave the tofu out completely and not substitute it at all. The recipe calls for Swiss chard but kale or spinach would work as well. As for the cheese, Parmesan is great, but the first time I made this I didn't have any Parmesan. I did however have some Gruyere left over from another recipe. Personally I think the Gruyere was even better than the Parmesan! Gruyere cheese has a slight nutty, earthy flavor that pairs really well with the fresh vegetables.

So if you are not a squash lover, as I was, I encourage you to try this recipe because I really think you'll enjoy it! As always let me know what you think and let me know if you made any substitutions that I didn't think of. Good luck and good eating! 

Recipe adapted from http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/penne_with_braised_squash_greens.html