Fettuccine Alfredo with roasted acorn squash
- Preparation 25 min
- Cooking 1 h 25 min
- Servings 4 to 6
- Freezing Absolutely
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🍂 A basket of squash I had no idea what to do with
One fall I visited a squash interpretation center and came home with a basket of squash I almost never cooked with. Odd shapes, names I did not know. They sat on my counter for a week while I figured out what to do with them. This recipe came out of one of those, an acorn squash. I love Alfredo pasta. I love acorn squash. Put the two together and you get a seriously comforting supper, and it has been in my fall rotation ever since.
🍝 A real homemade Alfredo sauce, not a cream bath
Look at the ingredient list: half a cup of cream for a full pound of pasta. That is it. The rest of the creaminess comes from the roasted squash purée and from the starchy pasta water that pulls the sauce together. That is what a homemade Alfredo sauce actually is. No quart of heavy cream, just cheese and starch. The pecorino romano does the rest, saltier and sharper than parmesan.
🥄 The squash turns into the sauce
Peeled, diced, then roasted for a full hour at a low temperature, the squash comes out soft and goes straight into the food processor with the butter and the broth. That is when it turns into sauce. Nobody sees a chunk of squash on their plate.
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🍠 How to peel an acorn squash
This is the tedious part of the recipe, might as well say it right away. Acorn squash has deep ridges running from stem to base, and almost nobody online shows you how to peel one, because almost nobody bothers: most cooks cut it in half and roast it in its skin, seeds scooped out, butter in the hollow.
I peel mine. Vegetable peeler first, on everything that bulges out, the top of each ridge. That part goes fast. Then a knife for the hard bits, meaning the bottom of the grooves where the peeler blade cannot reach. Two tools, not one.
Why this one? Honestly, I peel butternut and I peel pumpkin, so I peel acorn squash too.
🥄 Let it cool down if you want
The squash comes out of the oven blazing hot. You can send it straight to the food processor or let it sit on the counter for a few minutes. Both work.
🧂 Grate the pecorino fine
Fine like parmesan. Coarse shreds stay lumpy instead of melting into the sauce. And it goes into the pot over medium heat, along with the purée and the pasta water. Pecorino romano is saltier and sharper than parmesan, and that is the point: you need something strong enough to stand up to the sweetness of the squash.
🍜 Save that pasta water
One cup, set aside before you drain. That is what builds the sauce. The starch binds the cheese and the purée together and gives you that silky finish people usually associate with a big pour of cream, when there is half a cup in the whole recipe. If the sauce tightens up while you toss, a ladle of pasta water brings it right back. Same idea as in my creamy lemon shrimp Alfredo linguine.
🔥 The bacon goes into the sauce
Not sprinkled on top at the table: in, tossed with the cream and the thyme. It softens a little, which is fine. Salt and smoke should be everywhere in the dish.
🧊 Yes, you can freeze it
Freezing works. When you reheat it though, I would still loosen it with a bit of chicken broth: the sauce tightens in the cold and the broth brings it back where it was without adding more fat.
✅ What to serve with fettuccine Alfredo with roasted acorn squash
It fills a plate on its own, so I keep everything else light. A green salad with a sharp vinaigrette on the side and supper is done. If you are on a squash run this week, I also have a linguine with roasted butternut squash and a baked spaghetti squash with sauce and cheese on the site.
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Ingredients
- 2 acorn squash, peeled and diced (about 5 cups / 1.25 L)
- Olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) herbes de Provence
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) butter
- 3/4 cup (180 ml) chicken broth
- 1 lb (454 g) fettuccine
- 1 cup (250 ml) finely grated pecorino romano cheese + a little more for serving
- 1/2 cup (125 ml) 15% cooking cream
- 6 slices of bacon, cooked crispy and coarsely chopped
- The leaves of 4 fresh thyme sprigs
- Salt and freshly ground pepper
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Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 325 °F (160 °C).
- Spread the squash cubes on a large baking sheet, drizzle generously with olive oil, add the herbes de Provence then season with salt and pepper. Toss.
- Place in the oven and cook for 1 hour, or until the squash is very tender.
- Transfer the squash to a food processor, add the butter and the chicken broth and purée. Set aside.
- In a large saucepan filled with salted boiling water, cook the pasta al dente following the directions on the package. Reserve 1 cup (250 ml) of the pasta cooking water, pour the pasta into a colander and drain. Return it to the large saucepan over medium heat.
- Add the squash purée, the cheese and about 1/2 cup (125 ml) of the pasta cooking water. Toss to combine.
- Add the cream, the bacon and the fresh thyme then season with salt and pepper. Mix well. Add a little more pasta cooking water to adjust the texture if desired.
For this recipe, yes. The squash gets peeled, diced and roasted so it can be blended into a smooth sauce, and skin does not blend. I use a vegetable peeler on the raised parts of the ridges, then a paring knife for the grooves it cannot reach. If you were roasting the squash in wedges instead, you would leave the skin on.
The skin is edible. It softens in the oven and plenty of people eat it when the squash is roasted in halves or wedges. In this recipe it stays out, because the flesh gets puréed into an Alfredo sauce and bits of skin would show up in every bite.
One hour at 325 °F (160 °C), cut into cubes, with a drizzle of olive oil. It is long on purpose. We want soft flesh, not browned flesh. Squash that caramelizes at the edges brings a grilled flavor that takes over the whole sauce.
It works well and it is easier to peel, a little sweeter too. If that is the road you are taking, go look at my linguine with roasted butternut squash instead, it is built around it.
A sharp green salad and a piece of crusty bread cover it. Put a bowl of grated pecorino on the table and let everyone finish their own plate.
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