Penne with Acorn Squash and Pancetta

We were given two beautiful acorn squash and new we needed to do something glorious with it.  Jake had been asking me to do something with them for a few days and honestly, I wasn't feeling very creative.  He found a great recipe online and cooked a fabulous meal.  I'm so glad my man can cook!!  Whoop! Whoop!

When I took the ingredients picture, we had set out sheeps milk cheese.  Jake initially wanted to use goats milk cheese but there wasn't any at the market, so he got the sheeps milk cheese with the hopes that it would be similiar.  It tastes a lot like feta, very salty.  After we cooked up the pancetta, it occured to us that the dish would be overly salty if we used the sheeps milk cheese so we used Parmesan.  Parmesan was the cheese that was in the recipe.  We keep a big block of it on hand.

This dish will be made again because we moaned the entire time we were eating it.  It was heavenly.  And I'm sure very fattening.  Even with the wheat pasta.  I do what I want!  And because I love food so much I am currently blowing up like a Thanksgiving blimp.  

Ingredients:

1 acorn squash

1 small head of garlic

1/2 pound penne

2 teaspoons olive oil, plus more for coating squash and garlic

1/2 pound pancetta, sliced 1/4-inch thick and diced

1/4 cup white wine

1 teaspoon chopped, fresh rosemary

1/4 cup grated Parmesan

 Preheat the oven to 400º F.

 Slice the squash in half and remove the seeds with a spoon.  Cut each half crosswise into wedges, about 1/2-inch thick.  Toss the wedges with a splash of olive oil until coated, and spread on a baking sheet.  Season with salt and pepper.

 Slice the top off of the garlic head so that the tops of the cloves are exposed.  Drizzle on a bit of olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and wrap in aluminum foil.  Place on the edge of the baking sheet with the squash.

Bake the squash and garlic for about 30 minutes, turning the squash once, until both are soft and slightly caramelized.  (Depending on how big the head of garlic is, it make take longer.  Leave it in the oven while you peel and chop the squash.)

Allow the squash to cool slightly.  In the meantime, bring a pot of water to boil (for the pasta).  Then, peel each wedge of squash and cut into large chunks.

 Heat the 2 teaspoons of olive oil over medium heat in a medium stock pot or large, wide sauce pan (you'll add the pasta to this pan at the end).  Sauté the pancetta until most of the fat is rendered and the meat is crispy, about 15 minutes.  About halfway through, cook the pasta, making sure to salt the water.

When the pancetta is finished coking, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.  Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up any brown bits on the bottom.  Stir in the rosemary and about four cloves of the roasted garlic mashing them up in the liquid with the back of a spoon or spatula.

 Add the chunks of squash and pancetta to the pan.  Drain the pasta, reserving about 1/2 cup of the cooking water and add the pasta to the squash/pancetta mixture.  Toss everything to coat, then stir in the Parmesan.  Add a bit of the pasta water if the mixture seems too dry.