Winter Squash and Bacon Pasta - Test 2

https://www.cookingclassy.com/butternut-squash-pasta-carbonara/ 

https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/roasted-butternut-squash-bacon-pasta

1 - I  made this with the bacon ends from our first crop of pork. The butcher did a good job at the smoking! On the whole, the recipe is good, but the link between the bacon and the squash is pretty weak. For next time, I have increased the sage and nutmeg and added hot pepper powder.

2 - Yup, that worked. I removed the butternut as the only option, and used a Burgess Buttercup instead, with the changes in the spicing, and it worked well. There is lots of sauce, so I changed the amount of pasta from 14oz to 1lb. Seems to be a winner, but still testing.

3 - Made again with Burgess buttercup. I will want to try it with other squashes, but I'm equally happy to favor the Burgess. I also used a smaller quantity of squash - my squash was small and I didn't want to have to commit to a bit of another and have to figure out what to make with the rest at a later date. And I thought, what if I only had one squash? So I thought working out a range of quantity for the squash would be a good idea. It worked out just fine, but what it revealed was more spiciness from the cayenne - I thought it was a bit too spicy, but Ben and Paz both were fine with it. Since I want to build in flexibility, I will also include a 'to taste' option for the cayenne.

4 - Freaking good! The only thing is the sage leaves didn't crisp properly, so I'm going to do them separately. First brown the bacon, remove, then add the sage leaves until crips.

5 - I can make this more LHSS friendly with just a few tweaks, I think. Reduce the amount of bacon fat to 1 Tbsp, make clear that the diner can choose the amount of bacon bits to sprinkle on top.

6 - I like it, but when I add the sauce to the pasta it turns glue-ey which I don't like. I wonder about treating it more like a tomato sauce, where you don't mix the sauce and noodle together, but you put the noodles on the place, ladle the sauce on top, dress with bacon bits and parmesan.

6 slices (6oz/170g) bacon, chopped
7 leaves finely chopped fresh sage (about 2 Tbsps.)
1 small onion (4oz/115g) chopped 
1 (1lb8oz/650g) sweet winter squash (like Butternut, Burgess or even pumpkin), peeled, seeded and diced into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 cups)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 2/3 cups chicken broth
1 generous pinch ground nutmeg

1/4 - 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, to taste
1/4 cup heavy cream (or half and half for a lighter option)
1 lb dry linguine or spaghetti
1/3 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1. Cook bacon in a 12-inch non-stick skillet until browned and crisp. Remove from heat and remove the bacon with a slotted spoon
2. Add sage and toss to coat in the fat. Let them fry for about 5 minutes before removing and adding to the bacon.
3. Remove bacon and sage and set aside, while leaving 1 Tbsp. rendered bacon fat.
4. Add onions to the fat and sauté for 2 minutes. Add squash, season with salt and pepper and cook, tossing occasionally, about 7 minutes (onions should be beginning to brown lightly). 
5. Add the garlic and cook, tossing occasionally, 2 minutes longer. 
6. Pour in chicken broth, sprinkle in nutmeg and cayenne and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and allow to simmer until the broth has reduced by half, about 15 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, cook the pasta until al dente (ideally time it so pasta finishes cooking nearly the same time as the sauce is finished in the next step below). Drain and reserve 1 cup pasta water.
8. Transfer mixture to a blender along with the cream. Blend until smooth (to avoid boiling liquid spurting out, hold a folded kitchen towel over lid to help contain the steam). 
9. MAYBE TRY NOT MIXING, SEE NOTE 6 ABOVE: Drain the pasta and dump in the skillet and combine with the pureed squash mixture, and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta water. 
10. Cook over medium heat, tossing and adding in more pasta water to thin as needed, until sauce coats pasta, about 2 minutes. 
11. Toss in 1/3 cup parmesan, season with salt and pepper to taste. Plate and serve pasta topped with parmesan, sage and more pepper. Offer the bacon on the side for the diner to choose how much to put on if any.