Creamy Butternut Squash Rigatoni

Ingredients

• 1/4 butternut squash
• 50g parmesan cheese, grated
• 30g walnuts and hazelnuts, mixed and roughly chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
• small handful of sage leaves
• olive oil
• 200g rigatoni
• 1/2 – 1 cup of pasta water

Method

1. Roast the butternut squash at 350°F until fork-tender. You can roast a whole butternut squash, then save the leftovers!
2. Remove the squash from the oven and let cool until you can handle it. Remove the skin and cut about 1/4 of the squash into cubes.
3. In a medium-sized saucepan, add about 1 tablespoon of olive oil along with the chopped walnuts and hazelnuts. Add 2 – 3 sage leaves to the mixture and leave on the heat for about 2 minutes or until the nuts just begin to brown. Transfer to a plate. Add a bit more olive oil to the pan and add the garlic until just browned. Transfer to a plate.
4. Add the rigatoni to salted boiling water and cook as per the package instructions. Drain the pasta, making sure to keep about 1 cup of the pasta water.
5. Add the cubed butternut squash, the nut mixture, the grated parmesan, the garlic cloves and about 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a blender. Blitz until you are left with a smooth creamy mixture. Add about 1/4 cup of the pasta water to the mixture and continue to blitz until smooth.
6. In the same saucepan you used to toast the nuts, add a bit more olive oil to the pan and add a few more sage leaves until they crisp up. Transfer the sage to a plate.
7. Add the pasta to the saucepan over medium-low heat and mix in the sauce. If the sauce is too thick, add a touch more pasta water.
8. Transfer the pasta to serving bowls and top with grated parmesan and the crispy sage leaves.