BUTTERNUT SQUASH ROTINI MAC AND CHEESE

This is a beautiful marriage of a traditional mac and cheese and a new-ish idea that has been floating around where a humble butternut squash is blended into the cheese sauce to lower the fat and calories of this notorious gut bomb. The bonus is that the butternut squash adds a nice hit of sweetness and moisture to the dish in addition to improving its stats. That’s right! Adding butternut squash makes mac and cheese healthier and better. How rare and wonderful is that?

1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cubed (5 to 6 cups)

6 garlic cloves

2 ½ cups rotini pasta

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 cup whole milk

2 cups shredded cheese (smoked Gouda, white Cheddar, and goat)

Kosher salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

Scant ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon sherry vinegar

5 sprigs thyme, stems discarded

1 cup bread crumbs

2 to 3 tablespoons black truffle oil

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the squash and garlic cloves to the boiling water and cook for 5 to 7 minutes or until very tender. Retrieve the squash and garlic from the boiling water using a spider skimmer and place into the work bowl of you food processor. Now in the same water, cook the rotini according to package instructions. Drain the water from the pasta and return the pasta to the pot. Set aside.

In a medium pan over medium heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook until the flour starts to smell nutty and fragrant and begins to lightly brown. Add the milk, continue to whisk, turn the heat up to medium high, and allow the mixture to boil. You will notice the mixture has thickened. Stir in the cheese and remove the pan from the heat. Add the cheese mixture to the work bowl (the one with the squash) of the food processor along with the salt, pepper, nutmeg, and sherry vinegar. Blend until completely smooth.

Pour the mixture into the pot with the cooked pasta, add the thyme, and mix until well incorporated. Pour into an 8 × 12 casserole dish. (It will look like too much sauce for the amount of pasta, but it’s not!) Cover with bread crumbs and drizzle with black truffle oil. Bake for 25 minutes and serve hot out of the oven.

Makes 6 servings.

TIP: Look for a butternut squash that’s smooth, firm, and heavy for its size. You can peel it using a vegetable peeler and scrape the seeds out using a spoon.