Leftover ingredients, repurposed spices and an extremely weird roommate

It's not always possible to write a blog post when there's an extremely irritating roommate sitting next to you commenting on every word you write, but I'll endeavour to try anyway. Today's meal came from leftover ingredients, and it wasn't one that I intended to post about, but it ended up becoming one of the most surprisingly successful meals I've made while here, so I thought it wrong not to write about it.

A few days before this, I had bought some butternut squash for my flatbread, and had some leftover squash which had to be used. A similar story was true for the mushrooms and chicken sitting in the fridge just waiting to be used. So, I decided to cook myself a simple meal with what I had left. Specifically, I figured pasta is one of those easy meals to make, and considering I didn't want to dirty too many pots or pans, it seemed like the easiest choice.

I prepped the squash somewhat simply...scored it on the top with a knife and poured some olive oil, salt and pepper on top before putting it into the oven to bake. The oven tray doesn't really count as a dish because I had parchment paper on top, so it didn't really get dirty. Meanwhile, I cooked the mushrooms as simply as I could. In a pan, some olive oil, a mix of Italian herbs, some salt, pepper, and a bit of brown butter.

When those mushrooms were done, I put them into a small bowl on the side, and in the same pan, grilled some chicken. 1 thigh on average contains 28g of protein, and considering this one was pretty big, it probably ended up being about 35-40g. While I grilled the chicken, the smell of the butternut squash roasting became beautifully noticeable, so I pulled it out about halfway through and put some garlic, a mix of cheeses and some winter spices on top before putting it back to bake. Stupidly, I took my eyes off the chicken while doing this, and the garlic I'd put in the pan with the chicken had started to burn, but it didn't make too much of a difference. Burnt garlic can actually be useful (in small quantities) in a sauce. It gives a bit of earthiness to the sauce, so it can even be helpful. 

After that, I sliced the grilled chicken into strips and then went back to finish some work. About 20 mins later, I pulled out the squash from the oven, and it was completely tender. Perfect for a sauce, so using my roommate's blender, I blended the squash with some milk (I didn't have cream so I used milk instead), some more cheese, the burnt garlic from the chicken and some mildly caramelised onions (I caramelised them in the same pan as the chicken and mushrooms). This mix made a gorgeous, orange sauce, and I didn't really have the heart to make any more elements after smelling it, so I just put a pot of water on the stove to boil and poured in about 150g of pasta. In the same pan as everything else, I poured in the final sauce. Then I poured in about 2 tablespoons worth of pasta water along with all of the pasta into the sauce, before mixing. 

To plate, I literally just put the mushrooms and chickens on top of the bowl of pasta, and then topped with some grated cheese, paprika, good quality olive oil and herbs. And that dish was SO GOOD. I also had a bunch of leftover sauce which my roommate used the next day, and he loved it too. In fact, it was so good that he even told me that it would be somewhat wrong not to blog about this one, so here I am, posting about it. 

Recipe

These recipes serve one very hungry 19-year old or 2 normal people (I had a bit of sauce left over at the end, so 2 people is a reasonable estimate)

For the pasta

1/2 medium sized butternut squash

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1/4 cup grated cheese (My mix contained shredded parmesan, asiago, fontina and provolone)

Ginger powder

Cinnamon powder

Nutmeg powder

(Smoked) Paprika

Olive oil

1/3 white onion, sliced

Milk (truthfully I don't remember how much I used, but that's going to be your job)

150g pasta of your choice

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit or about 205 degrees celsius, and line an oven tray with parchment paper
2. Remove the seeds and core from the squash and then cut into large, 2-inch by 2-inch cubes. Optionally, score the tops of each of the cubes. Note: don't worry about peeling it (My roommate tried to, and it's useless because the skin is completely edible)
3. Drizzle some olive oil over the pieces and coat them nicely, and then sprinkle salt and pepper on top. You could also attempt sprinkling the spices on top now, although I haven't tried it and I think there's a chance it burns before the squash cooks
4. Once the oven is hot, put into the oven to bake. After 15 minutes, pull out and flip each cube. upside down. On the tray, place the cloves of garlic, and on each cube sprinkle ginger, cinnamon and nutmeg powder (I didn't have the nutmeg but it would've helped). I'd use about 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon, and about half that for nutmeg and ginger. Also, and this is based on taste, sprinkle some smoked paprika on top
5. Place back into the oven for an additional 10-15 minutes or until very tender
6. Meanwhile, in a pan, heat up some oil on medium-high heat and put in the onions. Cook until the onions are golden brown and then take off heat
7. Once the squash is done and has cooled a bit, in a blender, blend the squash with the onions and the garlic. Try to incorporate any oils left on the parchment paper, as they generally absorb a lot of flavour. Additionally, pour in milk, aiming for a thick sauce with a nice texture...this part will have to be done using your intuition 
8. In the same pan as before, pour in the sauce and heat until bubbling. Optionally, add more cheese if you want to, and also add more spices as needed.
9. In a large pot, bring water to a boil and add a generous amount of salt. Then, pour in pasta. Once pasta is boiled al dente, drain the water, saving 2 tablespoons to add to the sauce
10. Put the pasta back into the pot and add sauce as needed into the pot until the pasta is nicely coated. Save any leftover sauce by freezing it. Then, pour the pasta into a bowl and top with mushrooms, chicken or any other toppings of your choice. Finish with a bit more fresh salt, pepper and cheese on top (And if you have fresh herbs to put on top, there's nothing like it)

For the Mushrooms

Olive oil

50g cremini mushrooms (can use button if not available)

Italian herb mix

Salt

Pepper

15g brown butter (If not available, just use normal butter...I will be putting out a post on the essential ingredients soon, so stay tuned for that if you want to use brown butter)

1. In a pan, heat up the olive oil over medium-high heat. Then, pour in the mushrooms, herb mix, salt and pepper and toss together. Once the mushrooms begin to brown, add the brown butter and coat nicely. Then, set aside

Note: For the Chicken

I won't be giving a full recipe for the chicken as I'm not the most experienced at making it. Instead, I'm going to give you a link for some good grilled chicken, which you can use to make it. As I cook more chicken, I'll start to be able to tell you more about how to do it and what to do, and that's when I'll be able to include it in my recipes.

Link: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/pan-seared-chicken-breast/