Penne with Acorn Squash and Feta

This recipe came to us by serendipity. It happened to be posted on Chubby Vegetarian on a day when we happened to have squash, olives, and feta. One of the great things about it is that it's really versatile and you can swap the pasta out for greens and make a salad. You can also change up the cheese and use goat cheese or nuts.

We made a few swaps. I prefer balsamic to red wine vinegar and penne to fetuccini. Plus, we decided to serve it room temperature.

Ingredients (makes 3-4 serving)

for roasted squash
1 medium acorn squash
6 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil

for dressing
2 tsp salt
15 good quality olives, minced (we used a mix of french green olives and kalamata)
1 large shallot (diced)
2 roma tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 tsp sugar
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

for assembly
half dry pound penne pasta
1/2 cup crumbled sheep's milk feta such (French or Israeli are preferred) or nuts

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, cut the acorn squash in half, and then cut into wedges (think watermelon slices). Toss the squash and garlic cloves with olive oil and salt and place on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil or parchment paper and roast until fork tender - about 30 minutes, but keep checking it. When it's done allow to cool and use a spoon to scrape away the peel. Cut the squash into bite size pieces.

2. Cook the pasta as per package instructions. Set aside.

3. Smash the 6 pieces of roasted garlic with a fork. To the garlic, add all the ingredients for the dressing. Add salt to taste but remember olives and feta can already be quite salty.

4. To serve, put about 1/4 of the pasta in a bowl, top with 1/4 of the dressing mixture, a few pieces of squash, and 2 tablespoons of feta. We prefer ours room temperature.