Ever had one of those meals where you look through your fridge and piece something together?  We wanted to go simple and both seemed to be leaning towards just some simple pasta with a little butter and parmesan, but then came across some leftover Benton’s bacon (a birthday present for Cary).  Then the wheels started to turn……..

We’ve also been DROWNING in squash from our CSA.  People talked about the massive amount of kale and eggs, but no one mentioned the squash, so that went in the mix as well.

We started off by sauteing the the bacon which was cut into small pieces with kitchen scissors, which works much better than a knife.  We sauteed until the bacon was just slightly crisp on both sides, then transferred to some paper towels to cut down on the grease.

After wiping the pan mostly clean (a little bacon grease remained to cook the squash in), the squash was allowed to cook for a little while with only a little bit of salt added.  At the same time we were boiling the pasta (we chose tri-color rotini) and when the time was right we took about a 1/2 cup of the pasta water and added it to the pan.

After draining the pasta we added the rotini back to the pan.  After that, all that’s left to do is put everything together.

Add the bacon and a good bit of butter to the pasta.  We added 1/3 cup of butter.

Shake on a generous dose of Parmesan cheese and mix well, being sure to get down to the squash on the bottom of the pan to incorporate everything well.

Easy to fix, easy to serve.  I guess we’ll have to see what we get in the CSA next week, but this is an easy addition to your rotation that can use up excess veggies, gives you something different, and as long as there’s bacon, you know there’s going to be plenty of flavor!