Baked Shells with Winter Squash

This is a recipe I've been wanting to try since I got my hands on the Everyday Food cookbook! It is one of the meals I would never think of making due tot he odd pairing of ingredients, and was very hesitant to make, but it turned out great! It came with its minor-mishaps, though, so I improvised a bit. I could only find winter squash puree in 10oz containers, not 12, so I added in a little pureed sweet potato. Totally fine and didn't even notice it. The recipe called for 'small shells', so that's what I got. Judging by their picture, that's not what they meant. They meant normal, not jumbo, shells. Oh well, still turned out fine. And lastly, the french bread I'd been saving for the last 3 days so it would get crusty especially for this recipe...yeah, it was crusty, but not usable if you catch my drift. So I improvised and used Ritz. Again, just fine. All in all, a great meal, Scot went back for seconds!

Baked Shells with Winter Squash

• Olive oil
• 2 large onions - thinly sliced
• 2 t rosemary (it calls for fresh, I used dried, it was fine)
• 1 pound small past shells (as in not the jumbo kind)
• 1 pkg (12 oz) frozen winter squash puree
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 3 slices crusty baguette, cut into 1/4 inch cubes (1.5 cups)

--Saute the onions in some olive oil until brown. Add 1 t rosemary.
--Meanwhile, cook pasta according to directions minus 2 minutes (al dante) Reserve 1.5 cups of pasta water.
--Stir squash and reserved water into the onions.
--Add the onion mixture to the pasta (back in the pot) along with 1/2 cup Parmesan. Mix.
--Transfer all to a greased 9x13 baking dish.
--Combine bread crumbs with 1 t rosemary, some olive oil, and the remaining Parmesan and sprinkle over pasta.
--Bake for 10-15 minutes (until golden brown on top) at 400.

Serve with a big salad and you're good to go! Enjoy - we did.