Exotic Mushroom Pastitsio with a Sweet Blue Hubbard Squash Puree

If you've never had pastitsio before, its a Mediterranean style dish that usually includes bechamel and egg with pasta. Other ingredients, including vegetables and meats and poultry, can be added to customize the dish. It's usually quite heavy, although I'm sure also quite tasty. This one, however, swaps out some of the traditional ingredients to lighten it up. The egg that coats the pasta so nicely is still included, but instead of a heavy bechamel a light, fat-free milk sauce is made to substitute. I also add a generous serving of mushrooms, because, well, I love them!

To round out this vegetarian dinner, I also made some blue hubbard squash puree. I used to avoid blue hubbard due to its tremendous size, but since my local farmer's market started selling personal-sized hubbards I haven't been able to resist these delicious winter squash. Here, the naturally tender and sweet "meat" is combined with hearty brown sugar and some freshly ground black pepper for an amazing treat. Just be careful - once you start eating this squash you won't be able to stop.

Nutrition and recipe below the jump!

Difficulty: medium
Time: 1 hr 30 min
Cost: $14.77



Exotic Mushroom Pastitsio
Time: 1 hr 20 min

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 c onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
3.5 oz shiitake mushrooms, chopped
2 c sliced mushroom blend
1/4 tsp dried nutmeg
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 c tomato sauce, no salt added
2 eggs
1 tsp fake butter
1/4 c flour
2 c fat free milk
1 package whole wheat rotini (7 c cooked)
1 c low fat shredded mozzarella

Get your oven pre-heating to 350 degrees.

Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil, swirling to coat. Add the onion and garlic and saute for 3-5 minutes, stirring fairly frequently. Add the mushrooms and saute for another 5-7 minutes. The mushrooms should get tender and most of the liquid should evaporate. Add the nutmeg, oregano, black pepper, and tomato. Stir to combine well, let it heat for 1-2 minutes, and then remove from the stove.

Get a large pot of water boiling for the pasta. Then, lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl.

Heat a new pan over medium heat. Add the butter and swirl, letting it melt. Add the flour and stir with a wooden spoon, mixing well. Then, slowly add the milk, whisking or stirring constantly until smooth before adding more. Bring the milk mixture to a boil and let it cook for 2 minutes, stirring nearly constantly to avoid burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and let it stand as you move on to other pieces.

At this point, your water should be boiling for the pasta. Add the pasta and cook according to the package's instructions. When it's done, drain it.

As soon as the pasta is cooking, turn back to your milk mixture. Add 3/4 c mozzarella and stir to combine. The cheese should melt into the milk mixture. Then slowly add the milk mixture to the eggs, stirring to combine well.

When the pasta is cooked and drained, add the hot noodles to the mixture. Toss to evenly coat the noodles.

Grease a 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray. Add half of the pasta mixture to the pan. Spread the mushroom-tomato sauce mixture evenly over top. Add the rest of the pasta mixture on top of that. Coat a piece of foil with cooking spray and use it to cover the pasta. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the foil from the pasta and sprinkle the last 1/4 c mozzarella on top. Broil for 5 minutes and then enjoy.

Servings: 9
Serving size: 3"x4" piece
Nutrition: calories 265; carbs 42g; fat 5g; protein 12g; sodium 114mg; iron 12mg

Sweet Blue Hubbard Squash Puree
Time: 1 hr

Ingredients:
1 small blue hubbard squash (produces about 3 c squash when cooked)
1/2 c packed brown sugar
2.5 tbsp fake butter
1/4 tsp black pepper

Get your oven pre-heating to 450 degrees.

Cut your blue hubbard squash in half. Use a very sharp knife and be quite careful - it's not the easiest squash to cut! Then, scoop out the seeds and pulp from the inside and discard. Grease a baking dish with cooking spray and put the squash, cut-side down, in the dish. Add about 1/2 cup of water to the pan and then bake for 45-50 minutes.

Remove the squash from the oven and let it cool just until you can safely handle it. Scrape the squash from the skin and put in a bowl. You can throw away the skin when you have removed all of the squash "meat."

Put the squash in a food processor. Add the brown sugar, fake butter, and black pepper. Puree until smooth and evenly combined. Enjoy this delight right away.

Servings: 4
Serving size: 3/4 c
Nutrition: calories 150; carbs 30g; fat 3g; protein 1g; sodium 67mg; iron 3mg