JiJu inspiration - When Butter Squash meet Avocado Penne

Shopping in the open market is a good way to sense the change of season. From one euro box of exciting fresh strawberries to one euro bag of glistening yellow oranges, I know Autumn has arrived. My main challenge of cooking diary this year is to explore more new ingredient to achieve more color-wise balance on food. Butter squash is a good choice during Halloween mood, and the reason I bought at first just cuz it looks very cute!

It has a sweet, nutty taste similar to that of a pumpkin. I has yellow skin and orange fleshy pulp. When you cut into half, it looks like papaya and even taste like papaya before cooked. It is a good source of fiber, vitamin C, magnesium (鎂), manganese (錳）and potassium（鉀）. It is also an excellent source of vitamin A and vitamin E which is perfect for people overuse their eyes by starring at screen all the time. How can I miss such a great veggie! Not surprisingly, it's become one of my favorite seasonal veggies since the first bite.

 

 

There are humongous butter squash recipes online - soup, pasta, roasted with honey or different kinds of dessert. They all look yummy, yet, I want to infuse a bit Taiwanese spirits by using my personal preferable ingredients to make it more "ME". One more secret ingredient to make this dish even fantastic, instead of using processed dairy product such as cream and parmesan cheese, I used avocado to enrich the creamy taste with its healthy advantage. Even Halloween is over, this creamy soothing dish still wanders in my mind and that push me to make it again for one person dinner today. Hope you will enjoy as much as I do.

Ingredients:(Serving 2 people)

1. 1 cup butter squash, cooked and smashed
2. 1 cup avocado, smashed
3. 1 onion, chopped
4. 2-3 shallot, chopped
5. 2-3 garlic clove, finely chopped
6. 1 block of tofu, 1cm diced
7. 2-3 dry mushroom, soaked till soft and cut into strips
8. 250 grams Penne
Seasonings:
1. 1/2 tsp dried oregano
2. 1 tsp dried parsley,divided (or handful fresh parsley if you have on hands)
3. 1/2 cup of white wine
4. 1 cup of water
5. Salt and black pepper for taste

Instructions:
1. Cook the Penne according to the instruction on the package.
2. Heat oil pan, fry the tofu dice until each side become golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3. Use the same pan, stir fry onion and shallot until it is semi-transparent. Add garlic and mushroom, give a good stir until it is aromatic. Combine oregano and parsley with all the ingredients

 

4. Pour in wine and water, cook until it is boiling. Add butter squash and avocado and cook couple minutes

 

5. Add Penne and tofu and combine thoroughly. Season salt and black pepper based on your taste preference. Sprinkle the rest dry (or fresh) parsley on the top and serve warm.