Recipe #4: Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Mushrooms, and Fontina

This recipe is a little counter productive for someone who is trying to reduce wheat in their life, but I'm a sucker for cheese and tortellini (right up there with fresh bread and butter in my gluten world). Plus butternut squash is probably one of the best kept secrets out there (close behind spaghetti squash, though less of a secret). It's misleading because it just looks like a boring orange vegetable, but has this surprising flavour that just makes everything around it taste better. Next time, I'm definitely going to buy the pre-chopped package at the store as there are definitely better uses for my time than trying to chop a butternut squash (google it --> awkward shape, thick skin, it was the most labour intensive part of this recipe). I'm always a bit hesitant about cooking with mushrooms, but button mushrooms are just so cute and keep their firmness when being roasted that I was pleasantly surprised.

I opted out of fancy cheese and just used a delicious old cheddar that I had on hand - definitely needs a cheese with a nice bite to it for this recipe just to enhance the other flavours. The next time I cave and make this recipe (or magically discover a gluten-free cheese tortellini), I'll probably opt for dry sage as I discovered that I'm not a huge fan of a lot of fresh sage, texture-wise and intense flavour (even though I chopped it up).

Ingredients

1 small butternut squash (2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
1/2 pound button mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved (if large)
1/4 cup fresh sage leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
Kosher salt and pepper
1 pound fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
2 ounces fontina or Gruyere, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving

Instructions
Heat oven to 450F. On a rimmed baking sheets, toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once, until tender, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cok the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the vegetables, fontina, 1/4 cup of the cooking water, and 1/2 teaspoon salt and toss gently to coat (add more cooking water if the pasta seems dry). Sprinkle with additional fontina.

Enjoy!

Sincerely,
Sincerely xoxo