You’d never know the sauce for this pasta dish is not cream or cheese based. Well, of course some cheese is used, but you can include as much or as little as you like.

When I was home in Connecticut, my mother gave me a bunch of vegetables from her garden including a giant yellow squash, and for its use she shared this recipe. Cooking the squash down, pureeing it, and adding parmesan cheese gives this sauce a nutty taste, while the roasted tomatoes add a wonderful richness and a sweet bite. The lemon zest and juice are key ingredients that make the flavors pop. This makes a lot of sauce, which I then used again in a lasagne layered with roasted eggplant. So good!

For the sauce:

• 1 large yellow summer squash, diced
• 1 tblsp unsalted butter
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon, separated
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 small garlic clove
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
• Chopped parsley or basil, whichever you prefer
• Sprinkle of freshly grated nutmeg (optional)
• Olive oil, salt, pepper

For the tomatoes:

•  1 pint cherry tomatoes
• 2-3 garlic cloves, smashed
• Sprinkle of sugar
• Olive oil, salt, pepper

In a large sauce pan heat 1-2 tblsp oil and 1 tblsp butter (it helps thicken the sauce). Cook the onion, squash, garlic, and lemon zest until very soft, about 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add the chicken broth in splashes as needed to help the vegetables cook, keep them moist, and prevent browning. Once everything cooks down, add a shower of nutmeg. Meanwhile put the tomatoes and crushed garlic in a small baking dish and coat with olive oil. Then sprinkle with sugar, salt, and pepper. Roast in the oven at 400º until the tomatoes start to burst and the juices start to release.

Transfer the squash mixture into a large bowl and using a hand-blender, purée the mixture until smooth. At this point I like to add the juice from the roasted tomatoes to the mixture as well. Now add the fresh herbs, parmesan cheese, and lemon juice. Toss with fettuccine and the roasted tomatoes, then top with more parmesan. Prepare to enter a food coma.

The smell of garlic roasting in the oven is like heaven. And the taste – like candy. I had left-over vegetables and ricotta cheese from when I made the vegetable lasagne, so I whipped up this easy pasta dish that has so much flavor and pure “comfort” appeal.

At this point I should probably break the news to you that I am not going to always include exact recipes in every post. I rarely follow recipes. I often just use what I have in my cabinets, ‘fridge, and head. Cooking is not an exact science, and the more you do it the more you just “know” what and how much is needed.

For this creamy pasta dish, I first roasted zucchini and eggplant in a 400º oven. In a separate dish, I roasted a few cloves of garlic coated in olive oil, salt and pepper. Meanwhile I cooked the rigatoni and reserved some of the salty, starchy cooking liquid. When the garlic was soft and caramelized, I squeezed it out of the skin into a bowl with about 1 cup of ricotta cheese and 1/4 cup grated parmesan. Using a fork I mashed the roasted garlic into the cheeses and added some of the reserved cooking liquid to make more of a sauce. To that I added the pasta, some chopped basil, salt, pepper and the roasted vegetables. You’re going to love this one.