Pasta with Pancetta and Acorn Squash

From The Kitchn, the original recipe calls for half a pound of pasta and one acorn squash (and penne). I had two squashes, so I made a double batch (and used cavatappi, because I like it more than penne). It was delicious but, in retrospect, a bit too much pasta for one person.

The recipe presented here is the doubled version, since we're usually cooking with pasta in 500g increments. It also uses all of the garlic (the original calls for roasting an entire bulb but only using four cloves of it) -- if you are not as much of a garlic fan as I am, cut it back to one bulb and use only eight cloves from it.

Ingredients, for 500g dried, store-bought pasta

• 2 acorn squashes (1-1.5kg total mass)
• 2 small bulbs of garlic (or large bulbs if you're feeling frisky -- yes, that is entire bulbs, not cloves)
• olive oil
• 500g pancetta, sliced 5mm thick and then diced
• 256mL vegetable, chicken, or mushroom stock
• 10mL chopped fresh rosemary
• 128mL freshly grated parmesan

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
2. Bisect the squashes. Brush the exposed sides with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place face down on a baking sheet.
3. Slice the tops off the garlic bulbs so that the tops of the cloves are exposed. Brush with olive oil, wrap in tinfoil, and place on the baking sheet with the squash.
4. Bake until the squash is fork-tender and the garlic soft and spreadable, ~30 minutes.
5. Once the squash is cool enough to handle, peel it and cut it into chunks. You may also want to take the time now to peel and/or squeeze the garlic in advance.
6. Begin heating a pot of water to boil for the pasta.
7. While the water heats, in a deep, wide saucepan, sautee the pancetta over medium-high heat until it is well browned and just starting to crisp, 10-15 minutes.
8. At some point while you're doing this, the water will boil. Add the pasta and some salt to the pot and cook it al dente. Drain, reserving ~128mL of pasta water.
9. Deglaze the pan with the broth and add the garlic and rosemary. Stir until the garlic is fully mixed with the sauce, <1 minute.
10. Add the squash to the pan and mix well.
11. Add the pasta. Toss to coat. The squash is probably starting to break up into a gooey squash sauce. This is fine.
12. Stir in the cheese. Adjust consistency with the reserved pasta water, if desired. Eat.