Creamy Butternut, Blue Cheese and Walnut Pasta

When I try to cook vegetarian, it usually ends up being a dish with a pasta base. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I'm trying to limit my carbohydrate intake, so I opted to try a recipe that uses pasta sparingly, almost as a side ingredient to the main act-butternut squash.

This simple butternut squash pasta dish can be made with any tipe of rounded pasta, I opted to make it with gemili, though the recipe called for cavatappi.

Creamy Butternut, Blue Cheese, and Walnut Cavatappi (serves 4-6)

Ingredients:

4 cups (1/2-inch) cubed peeled butternut squash (about 1 1/3 pounds)

2 1/2 tsp olive oil, divided

1/2 tsp kosher salt, divided

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper, divided

Cooking spray

8 oz uncooked cavatappi/pasta

1 cup prechopped onion

1 TB minced garlic

1 cup 2% reduced-fat milk, divided

1 tsp all-purpose flour

2 large egg yolks

2 oz blue cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)

3 TB chopped walnuts, toasted

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425°.

Combine squash, 1 1/2 teaspoons oil, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper on a jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 425° for 24 minutes or until tender, stirring once.

Cook the pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain pasta; keep warm.

Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 teaspoon oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium-low. Stir in 1/2 cup milk, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Combine remaining 1/2 cup milk, flour, and yolks in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk. Slowly add egg mixture to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 5 minutes or until thickened, stirring frequently with a whisk.

Combine squash, pasta, and milk mixture in a large bowl; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with cheese and nuts.