Fresh Pasta with Roasted Squash and Goat Cheese

I'm so excited that I just got a pasta maker! I'm still sort of figuring out how to use it, but it was still so much better than rolling out pasta by hand as we did for the March Daring Bakers challenge. I made an easy egg pasta and used the machine to roll it out and cut it into fettuccine. I ended up getting the noodles a little too thick, so I'll roll them a bit thinner next time, but otherwise they were really delicious and it was very satisfying to make my own pasta!

The fresh noodles went perfectly with the goat cheese and roasted butternut squash. Sweet and creamy, the cheese and veggies were really delicious and easy to pull together (crucial since I was spending extra time on the pasta). I think a hit of lemon juice would add a bit of needed acidity to the dish (I didn't think to use it at the time, but I've added it to the recipe below).

Fresh Pasta with Roasted Squash and Goat Cheese (adapted from The New York Times)
Serves 4

1 recipe Egg Pasta (see below)
1 butternut squash (about 2 pounds), peeled, seeded, and cut into cubes
2 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp chopped fresh sage
2 T extra virgin olive oil (more as needed)
4 ounces goat cheese
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional)
1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF. Cover a baking sheet with foil. In a bowl, toss the squash with the garlic, salt, pepper, sage, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil until all of the squash is coated with oil. Add more oil as needed so that everything is well coated. Transfer to the baking sheet, place in the oven and roast for 30 minutes or until tender and caramelized.

2. Remove the garlic cloves and carefully squeeze out the now-soft insides. Add them to a bowl along with the squash and the cheese.

2. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of generously salted water to a boil. Cook the fresh pasta for only 1-2 minutes until it is perfectly al dente. Ladle about 1/2 cup cooking water from the pasta into the bowl with the squash and cheese and stir together.
3. When the pasta is ready, drain and toss with the squash mixture and the remaining tablespoon of olive oil. Squeeze lemon juice over the top of the pasta and serve hot.
Egg Pasta (adapted from The Splendid Table)
4 extra-large eggs
14 ounces all-purpose flour
A few drops of water, as needed
1. Place the eggs and flour into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix together with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon until the flour is mostly moistened. Place the bowl on the stand mixer, and knead with the dough hook on the lowest speed until the dough is satiny, smooth, pliable, and not at all tacky. Add a few drops of water if it looks like all the flour isn't getting incorporated.
2. Shape the dough into a ball and let rest 30 minutes to 3 hours at room temperature.
3. Work the dough through your pasta machine until it is your desired thickness (or roll it out with a rolling pin). At this point you can either cut it by hand or use an attachment for your machine to cut the dough into noodles. I made fetuccini but any long noodle shape would work.
4. You can use the pasta in the above recipe immediately or let it sit out for an hour or two with no ill consequences. Just make sure it is well floured so the noodles don't stick together!

I'm sending this recipe off to Presto Pasta Nights! Thanks to hostess Daphne of More than Words.  I'm also sending it off to BSI: Pasta!