Pasta with Butternut Squash & Soybeans

Epicurious is a great resource for recipes. I knew I wanted to make a pasta with butternut squash this week so I just put in those ingredients & picked the one that sounded best. This recipe originally called for Lima Beans but I read some of the comments & soybeans were suggested as a good alternative. Since I had soybeans in the freezer I decided to go that way. I find the comments on the recipes in Epicurious are also a great resource on how to tweek a recipe.


2 T olive oil
1 large onion, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 T chopped fresh thyme or 1 t dried
1/4 t dried crushed red pepper
3 1/2 c butternut squash, peeled, seeded & chopped into 1/2 inch pieces. (about a 2 lb squash)
1 10-oz package frozen soybeans (shelled), thawed. (or use baby lima beans)
2 c vegetable broth

10 oz penne pasta (3 c)
1/4 c grated parmesan

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over med-high heat. Add onion & sauté under tender and golden, about 10 minutes. Add garlic, thyme and crushed red pepper & stir 1 minute. Add squash & beans & sauté 3 minutes. Add broth & bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover & simmer until vegetables are tender, about 6 minutes (I simmered for 15 & actually think they could have used about 5 minutes more to get the squash a little softer). Season to taste with slat & pepper.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in a large pot of salted water until al dente. Drain & return to pot. Add squash mixture to pasta. Toss to blend, adding more broth by 1/4 cupfuls to moisten if necessary (ours was actually almost soupy so no extra broth was needed). Season with salt & pepper. Transfer to bowl & sprinkle with cheese.

This tasted wonderful & I will make it again though with the longer cooking time for the vegetables. Some people suggested roasting the squash first but that added a lot more preperation time to what is a quick recipe.