Cooking In, Dinner, Quick PostKerry Alaric Cheeseborobalsamic, basil, butter, butternut, cheese, chopped, Cooking In, Dinner, Eataly, filled, fresh, garlic, grated parmesan, mesclun, oil, olive, olive oil, pancetta, pasta, salad, squash, stella, vinegar, zuccaComment

Star-Struck

Cooking In, Dinner, Quick PostKerry Alaric Cheeseborobalsamic, basil, butter, butternut, cheese, chopped, Cooking In, Dinner, Eataly, filled, fresh, garlic, grated parmesan, mesclun, oil, olive, olive oil, pancetta, pasta, salad, squash, stella, vinegar, zuccaComment
Stella alla Zucca (Star-Shaped Pasta Filled with Butternut Squash) in a Basil Butter Sauce with Pancetta and a Simple Mesclun Salad

WHILE MEANDERING AROUND THE FOOD museum that is Eataly, the other day, I was overwhelmed by the breadth and depth and variety of Italian food-related stuff they made appealingly available. They have their own fish shop, meat shop, bread, shop, panini stand, espresso stand, cheese counter, salumeria spot, and restaurants dedicated to almost all of each of those predilections.

And if getting to meet and talk to Eataly co-owner Joe Bastianich and renowned food critic Jeffrey Steingarten wasn't enough, seeing a skinned and prepped whole rabbit was a first for me, as well as coming across housemade pasta called stella alla zucca, which is a star-shaped pasta filled with butternut squash.

I had figured out a recipe before I even left, Eataly; I would toss the cooked stella in a pan with garlic and pancetta and a sauce of butter, lemon juice, white wine, and chopped basil.

By the time I actually made the dish today, I decided to place a simple salad of mesclun, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper on top. What I wound up with was a very tasty dish layered with the flavors of sweet, earthy butternut squash, salty, porky, pancetta, a bit of citrus to elevate the squash, some sauteed garlic for smoky sweetness, and the bitter, herbal leaves of mesclun countered nicely by the acidity of the balsamic vinegar.

Some grated parmesan added a nice, aromatic and mellow touch to the whole dish, and I was even halfway through it before I started thinking about going back to Eataly, bumping into Mario Batali, the other co-owner, and having him hopefully teach me how to cook a whole rabbit...!

Bun Apple Tea!

.kac.

Stella alla Zucca (Star-Shaped Pasta Filled with Butternut Squash) in a Basil Butter Sauce with Pancetta and a Simple Mesclun Salad