Work, work and little play... Pasta with butternut squash, kelemata olives and feta

It is that time of the year again.

...3Q10 revenues were higher than expected...the bottom line fell -3.5% QoQ, below our and consensus' estimates...loan loss provisions increased vs. FY09 and are expected to continue growing in 4Q10e...prices bottomed out...

...bottom schmottom...

Yup, quarterly results. Quarterly results of the gazillion companies listed on the Stock Market that all announce their results in the same few days.

Needless to say, things are crazy here at the office. Stress levels are high, our schedules have shifted into overdrive and by the time I get home (after two pit stops to pick up my kids from day care/kindergarden) I have a vacant stare, I see double and my brain isn't functioning very well.

Cooking is the perfect thing to do to relax and shake it all off. To let my mind rest while my hands fall into a well-known routine of chop-chop-chop and mix-mix-mix, the famililar rhythm numbing my mind.

Except...when I open my fridge it is empty. So empty that the milk echoes as it splashes around in its carton when I swing open the door. I can almost see tumbleweed rolling across my kitchen floor. Who's had time to go to the supermarket this past week?

Luckily, however bad things get, there is always some pasta in the house and thank goodness for canned/preserved/frozen/pickled foods and vegetables with a longer shelf life than baby spinach.

Feta cheese and olives are pretty much a staple in our house. This time the latter happened to be Kelemata, which I adore, so I could almost say this was a Greek inspired pasta. Last, but certainly not least, some friends brought me a butternut squash the other day from their family's garden. I know this is not an exceptional event in your lives, but it is in ours. We don't see a lot of butternut squash around here and I have been craving it, to say the least, after seeing about a million recipes posted  for it in the blogsphere.

There are literally 4 ingredients in this dish, excluding condiments, and no recipe. It is a vibrant, nutritious, tasty dish, the saltiness of the olives and cheese contrasting perfectly with the sweetness of the squash. I promise this will get your taste buds working.

It is a family pleaser but it is also perfect to make for those friends dropping by last minute with a bottle of wine. Then again it is Friday and you may just want to sit back on your couch, snuggling under a warm blanket, to watch a movie with a bowl in your lap and a fork in your hands (sorry Mom!).

Ingredients

butternut squash

feta cheese

Kelemata or any black olives

oil

salt

pepper

cinnamon
brown sugar*
maple syrup*

pasta

*I forgot to list these two ingredients on Friday (now it is Monday). This only goes to show how burnt out I was.

I did not give measurements because you can play around with them according to your taste and the amount of people you are prepping for. Preheat your oven to 220/250°C.The first step is roasting the butternut squash. You can cut it in half and roast it directly or you can peel it, deseed it (don't throw them away, you can roast them just like pumpkin seeds!) and cut it into cubes, coating it with a little salt, pepper, oil, brown sugar, a drizzle of maple syrup and cinnamon. I did it this way to get it a little more caramelized.  In the meantime start boiling a pot of water for your pasta and crumble the feta into a bowl, adding the olives. When the squash is soft and caramelized, add it into the bowl, mixing well. Drain your pasta and mix in, adding some olive oil if needed. You could also puree the squash, mix it with the pasta, then add the olives and crumble the feta on top. Drizzle over a little more oil, pepper and salt (taste before doing this as the olives and feta are already pretty salty) and dig in.

 

 Hope you all have a great week end!