It's that time of year - Tagliatelle with butternut squash and rosemary

"It's that time of year" - I repeat this to myself over and over again, between bouts of cough and blowing my nose.
Come October an annoying cold takes residence in my respiratory system and I shall not be rid of it until at least May or June next year.
Thanks mum for my lousy immune system and The Doom of The Phlegm.


And of course because of it  do have this thing about complaining about the end of summer, but the reality is that:


A) I actually love the browns, oranges and yellows of autumn and
B) We don't have an actual summer here in England anyhow.


The view of Green Park form the top of a double-decker bus covered in autumnal hues makes me smile as much as the sight of the first blooms appearing on trees in spring.


Anyway, with autumn come relaxing and comforting Sunday lunches and I loved the one I came up with today - The colours of the paglia & fieno tagliatelle mixed with the vibrant oranges of the squash brought some sunshine into this otherwise grey and chilly day.
Perfect.


Butternut Squash and rosemary tagliatelle


Serves 2


Ingredients


250gr tagliatelle (paglia e fieno if possible)
400gr butternut squash peeled, seeded and chopped into small chunks
1 cup white wine
1/2 cup double cream
1/2 cup finely chopped rosemary
2 garlic cloves peeled and crushed
1tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat for a couple of minutes.
Add the garlic cloves and let the oil absorb the aroma for another 2 minutes.
Add the butternut squash and salt, increase the heat and brown quickly.
Add the white wine, bring to a boil and reduce the heat to low and let the butternut squash cook through (about 20-30 minutes).

Bring a separate pan of water to boiling point.

Once the squash is cooked, add the rosemary and the cream, simmer for 5 minutes and remove from the heat.

Add the tagliatelle to the water pan and cook to packet instructions (I normally drain it a minute before I'm supposed to as I like finish cooking my pasta in the sauce) and make sure you add 4 tablespoons of the water the pasta is cooking in to the squash mix in the other pan.

Drain the pasta, put it in the frying pan with the squash and return to the heat.
Toss and make sure all your pasta is well coated with sauce over a medium heat for a minute or two.

Sprinkle with pepper.

Enjoy!

P.S. You can add some pancetta cubes to this recipe if you are desperate for some meatiness - Just make sure you half the amount of olive oil and add it to the frying pan right before the squash.