Tortellini with Roasted Butternut Squash, Mushrooms & Fontina

Hey there.

I'm not going to sugar coat it for ya. 

BOY, do I have one helluva dish for you today!

I know I'm a writer.  And writing is how we communicate.

However, putting into words the amazingness of this dish is proving to be difficult for me.

Let's start with the squash and the mushrooms.  One's sweet, one's savory.  Sweet and savory are BFF4E.

Man, wouldn't it just be perfect if I could connect the 4 and the E the way we used to in grade school??

Butternut squash really is the ring leader in this trifecta of love, because it's also BFF4E with sage.

Scandal!

But then.  THEN sweet little butternut squash invited Fontina to play hopscotch at recess, too, and whoa buddy, those two LYLAS for sure.

Sisters from another mother, but sisters none-the-less.  If you take one thing away from this post, this dish, let it be this:

Butternut Squash + Fontina = TRULUV4EVR

And ever and ever and ever.  Fontina may very well be my favorite cheese on the face of the Earth.  Never did I ever imagine that combining it with squash would make me weak in the knees.

Make me want to fill my bathtub with it and take a soak, while munching away and reading a book.

Make me want to SHOUT FROM THE ROOFTOPS to the entire world what they must make for dinner tonight.

Make me...stop yelling at you.  Sorry.

I just want to get my point across, that's all.  I loved this so much, I've convinced my mother to make it tomorrow night when we stop by for dinner.  I figured it would be pretty easy to get her to make this - seeing as she's harvested at least 647 squash from her garden so far this season.

We're heading over there to drop off their grandpups, Jade & Cooper.  They're watching them for a few days while we head to Wichita for a wedding.

Jade will spend every single one of the 40 hours that she's there eating horse apples.

And I'm not talkin' about a fruit.



Tortellini with Roasted Butternut Squash, Mushrooms & Fontina
Serves 4

Recipe slightly adapted from Real Simple

• 1 small butternut squash (2 pounds), peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
• 1 pound button or cremini mushrooms, stems trimmed and halved if large
• 1/4 cup fresh sage leaves, torn
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 1 pound fresh or frozen cheese tortellini
• 2 ounces fontina, grated (1/2 cup), plus more for serving

1. Heat oven to 450° F. On 2 rimmed baking sheets, toss the squash and mushrooms with the sage, oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast, tossing once and rotating pans halfway through, until the vegetables are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, cook the tortellini according to the package directions. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking water; drain the tortellini and return to the pot. Add the fontina, ¼ cup of the cooking water, and ½ teaspoon salt and stir gently until a light sauce forms (add more cooking water if the pasta seems dry). Add the vegetables and toss gently to coat.  Sprinkle with additional fontina, garnish with a few sage leaves.