Creamy Squash with Spiced Ham Pasta

Incorporating vegetables into our child’s favorite dish is a great way to add these nutritious veggies into their diet. If your kid is into burgers, why not add minced carrots, bell peppers, and even cauliflower into the patty. If they love pancakes, adding shredded sweet potato and carrots will make this breakfast staple healthier.

My little Queen B loves squash. She also likes pasta. So when I saw the recipe of a pasta dish with squash on a magazine the other day, I know I must cook it for her. I have to do some revisions as I do not have the dried herb the recipe calls for. I also wanted to add some meat in the sauce.

So here is my Creamy Squash with Spiced Ham Pasta:

Ingredients

1 wedge squash, peeled, cubed

2 slices of spiced ham, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 small red onion, minced

½ chicken bouillon cube

1 carton of all-purpose cream

2 Tbsp Olive Oil, divided

1 Tsp Butter

1/8 tsp dried thyme

1/8 tsp dried rosemary

Salt and pepper, to taste

250 grams spaghetti

Parmesan Cheese

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (356°F).
2. In a bowl, toss the squash cubes with half of the olive oil, thyme, and rosemary. Season the squash with salt and black pepper. Transfer to a baking dish in one layer. Roast the squash cubes until softened, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and using a fork or masher, mash. Set aside.
3. Bring a pot of water, salted, to a boil. Add pasta, and cook until al dente, around 8 minutes. Reserve half a cup of the pasta water. Drain and keep pasta warm.
4. In a pan over medium heat, heat remaining oil and butter. Sauté onion. Cook onion until translucent then add the garlic. Cook garlic until softened then add the diced spiced ham. Cook the spiced ham and then add the mashed squashed, bouillon cube, and reserved pasta water. Stir to mix then bring to a boil. Add the cream and stir to mix. Remove from heat.
5. Toss cooked pasta with sauce. Top the pasta with Parmesan cheese and thyme. Serve.

No oven? In a pan, sauté the squash in oil, add a little water, cover the pan, and let cook until softened. Then mash as indicated in the recipe above. 

So what did Georgina thinks of this pasta dish? Let the photos tell you.

She already ate 1/3 of her lunch when I remembered to take a picture. We do have lunch together. 

We now let her use both spoon and fork.

Yum! She is getting better everyday in feeding herself, thanks to Baby-Led Weaning!

Our little Queen B loves it! She cleaned off her plate. As a surprise reward, I gave her a small scoop of vanilla ice cream. We also had this for dinner and she ate more than what she had for lunch even though she finished a small bowl of Ginataang Mais two hours prior. I am one very happy Mommy!

I believe that this dish can easily be tweaked. The original recipe calls for sage but I don’t have it so I used thyme and rosemary. Other vegetables can also be added like steamed then mashed cauliflower, amplifying its nutritional value. The use of bacon instead of spiced ham will make this delicious dish more wonderful because, well, bacon makes everything better!

I am sure that this pasta dish will make more appearances in our dinner table. I hope on yours too.

#xoxo