If my friends who are cooking Thanksgiving this year have one dilemma it’s the issue of beloved vegetarians. Do you relegate them to side dishes while everyone else eats turkey? Do you make the main event vegetarian so that everyone feels included? Is it even Thanksgiving if there isn’t a dead animal on the table?
Turn to the Squash
I’ve got a solution for you and it comes from Suzanne Goin’s marvelous A.O.C. cookbook. Chef Goin spent time, as a student at Brown, working at the legendary Al Forno restaurant in Providence, Rhode Island; a restaurant famous for its baked pastas.
Now there are baked pastas and there are baked pastas: this is one for the record books. Chef Goin’s baked pasta has four kinds of cheeses: Fontina, Gruyere, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and Taleggio.
Yes, there’s a lot of cheese in here, but we’re competing with a whole roasted bird: so it’s gotta have oomph.
To add to the oomph, you roast a kabocha squash; a fairly quick process because you cut it into cubes first. This cookie sheet isn’t dirty, it’s much-loved.
Not to Be Cheesy But….
In terms of the process, you make a cheese sauce (aka: a bechamel) which is very similar to what you make when you make a mac and cheese.
Not only does that cheese give the sauce lots of flavor; but she also has you add freshly grated nutmeg which gives things even more autumnal zhuzh.
As for the pasta (Chef goin calls for torchio, I usd rigatoni), the key is cooking it four minutes less than the time on the package. It’ll seem inedibly hard at that stage, but have faith: it’ll continue to soften as it bakes in the oven. Even better? It’ll crisp up on top and become the best part of the whole affair.
Oh and after you stir the pasta into the sauce, you add sliced radicchio, for health.
To get this oven-ready, you put a layer of the pasta in a greased 9X13 baking pan, layer in the roasted squash, walnuts, and the Taleggio which you cut into cubes.
Then you top with another layer of pasta, squash, walnuts, and taleggio, and dust it all with Parmesan cheese.
If you’re prepping for Thanksgiving, you can get it to this stage, cover with foil, refrigerate and bake it the next day.
A Good Bake
It takes about 20 minutes in a 450 oven for it to get all bubbly and burnished brown. Look at this beauty:
So don’t punish the vegetarians at your Thanksgiving dinner. Make this and just punish the vegans. :p
Baked Pasta with Kabocha Squash, Radicchio, Walnuts, and Taleggio
Ingredients
Method
- Bring the milk to a boil in a medium saucepan, and turn off the heat.
- Place the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. When it foams, add the flour, and whisk to combine completely. Turn the heat down to medium-low, and cook for a few minutes, whisking all the time, until the flour is a light-sandy color.
- Put in one-third of the milk, and whisk vigorously to incorporate. Add another third of the milk, and continue whisking. When the milk is fully incorporated, add the last third, turn the heat up to medium, and bring to a simmer, whisking all the time, until very smooth. Cook for 10 minutes, whisking often, and then remove from the heat.
- Stir in the cream, Fontina, Gruyere, Parmigiano, 3/4 teaspoon salt, some pepper, and a few gratings of nutmeg. Taste for seasoning.
- Preheat the oven to 425.
- Cut the squash in half lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Place the squash cut-side down on a cutting board, and use a sharp knife to remove the peel. Cut the squash into 1 1/2-inch chunks.
- Toss the squash with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 teaspoon salt, some pepper, and the thyme. Place the squash on a baking sheet, and roast in the oven about 15 minutes, until tender when pierced.
- Place the half-head of radicchio cut-side down on a cutting board, and slice it into 1-inch-thick ribbons. Toss the radicchio with 2 tablespoons olive oil, the rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and some pepper.
- Remove the Taleggio rind, and cut the cheese into 1-inch chunks.
- Toss the walnuts with remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt.
- Preheat the oven to 450 F.
- Blanch the pasta in boiling salted water for exactly 3 minutes, drain, and rinse with cold water until cooled. Transfer the pasta to a large mixing bowl. Spoon the warm three-cheese sauce over the pasta, add the radicchio and some pepper, and toss well to combine. Place half the pasta in a large (12-inch round or 9-by-12-inch rectangle) oven-to-table baking dish. Tuck half the squash, half the Taleggio, and half the walnuts into the pasta. Top with the remaining pasta, and tuck in the remaining squash, Taleggio, and walnuts. Sprinkle the grated Parmigiano on top, and bake for about 20 minutes, until bubbling and crispy on top.
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