Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells

1. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees C.
2. Peel and chop the butternut squash into medium cubes.
3. Add 1-2 tbsp of olive oil to the butternut squash.
4. Line up the baking tray with parchment paper and roast the butternut squash cubes in the oven for 15 minutes. Check the tenderness of the cubes with a fork and remove from oven once done.
5. Let them cool and reach room temperature.
6. Reduce the oven temperature to 200 degrees C.
7. In large pot of lightly salted and boiling water, cook the pasta shells for 10 minutes or until they become al dente.
8. Drain the water and set the pasta shells aside.
9. In amedium sized bowl, combine the spinach, egg, salt pepper, butternut squash cubes, parmesan and ricotta cheese together.
10. Add in the lemon zest to the mixture.
11. Fill this mixture in each of the pasta shells.
12. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
13. Place all the pasta shells inside the dish and bake for 20 minutes.
14. Prepare the brown butter sauce while the pasta shells are baking.
15. In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until it is golden brown. This should take about 10 minutes. Make sure the butter doesn’t get burned.
16. Add in the sage leaves and let them fry until they are brown and crispy.
17. Remove the brown butter sauce from the heat and add in the lemon juice.
18. After the pasta is baked, drizzle the brown butter sauce all over the shells and let it stand for 10 minutes.
19. Sprinkle some additional parmesan cheese on top and serve with 1 sage leaf with every shell.

Trivia

• Like pumpkin seeds, butternut squash seeds can be eaten as snacks.

Pasta shells are almost always used for filling and baking.