2000s Recipes + Menus

Black and Orange Halloween Pasta

BLACK LINGUINE WITH ROASTED SQUASH AND PEPPERS

Serves6 (main course)
  • Active time:15 min
  • Start to finish:45 min
Cooking by color might not be the surest way to devise holiday-appropriate recipes, but who can resist the lure of black linguine on Halloween? Tossing it with pumpkin-hued vegetables lusty with garlic and hot pepper might seem like hobgoblin overkill, except that the flavors work well together. Really well. So much so that you’ll be making this pasta combination again and again, long after the jack-o-lanterns have disappeared.
  • 2 lb butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and cut into 3/4-inch chunks
  • 2 orange bell peppers, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1 tablespoon thyme leaves
  • 1/2 teaspoon hot red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 lb black linguine or spaghetti (squid or cuttlefish ink pasta)
  • 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives, chopped
  • Accompaniment:

    grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
  • Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle.
  • Toss squash and bell peppers with garlic, thyme, red pepper flakes, oil, and 1/2 tsp each of salt and pepper in a 17- by 11-inch 4-sided sheet pan. Roast, stirring once, until vegetables are just tender and browned in spots, 25 to 35 minutes.
  • While vegetables finish roasting, cook linguine in a pasta pot of well-salted boiling water until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain pasta and return to pot.
  • Remove sheet pan from oven and pour reserved water over vegetables, stirring to loosen from pan. Stir in olives, then add vegetable mixture to pasta in pot and toss to combine.
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