This post is sponsored by Pasta Garofalo®. The opinions and text are all mine.

This creamy mushroom pasta with butternut squash and crispy prosciutto is the stuff my fall dreams are made of. High-quality pasta tossed with sauteed mixed mushrooms, roasted butternut squash and a sauce that is creamy but not too heavy and then finished with crispy prosciutto. The blend of flavors is perfect with the sweetness of the butternut squash, the saltiness of the prosciutto, and the umami of the mushrooms. 

Fun story: my grandmother requested a pasta dinner when I was visiting her in Florida last week, so I created this pasta for dinner one night. She raved over the flavors in the dish and told me she was surprised by how much she enjoyed the addition of the roasted butternut squash. 

PREMIUM PASTA MAKES ALL THE DIFFERENCE

Using premium pasta can help to give everyday dinners a gourmet feel. My grandmother and I both went crazy over both the texture and the taste of Pasta Garofalo®’s fusilli pasta. I think we talked about how much we liked the actual pasta noodles in the dish for at least five minutes (we share a deep love for pasta, haha). 

Pasta Garofalo is an Italian pasta with an over 200-year history. The pasta is made in Italy with only one ingredient – 100% highest-quality durum wheat semolina. They offer a variety of short and long cuts. Their fusilli shortcut was perfect in this dish but I also adore their long-cut spaghetti noodles. They feature a rough-to-the-touch texture that helps my favorite homemade spaghetti sauce “stick” to the pasta. 

I buy Pasta Garofalo at my local The Fresh Market. Check out their website to see where you can find it in your area. 

THE INGREDIENT LINEUP

Here are the key players in this pasta dish. I really feel that each ingredient adds something special and important to the dish. 

• Pasta Garofalo Fusilli Pasta – I love this pasta shape because it’s bite-sized, locks flavor into every bite, and just looks fun! 
• Mushrooms – I used two different varieties, baby portobello and oyster. You can really do any blend of mixed mushrooms here! Don’t be afraid of the pound of mushrooms that this recipe calls for…they cook down a ton but are also meant to be a key element of the dish. 
• Shallots – a bit lighter and more delicate than onion and perfect for this dish. 
• Garlic – can you even make a pasta dish without garlic? 
• White Wine – to deglaze the pan that you cooked the mushrooms, shallots and garlic in to get all of those caramelized brown bits incorporated into the sauce. 
• Heavy Cream – there is just enough heavy cream in this recipe to give it a creamy, luxurious texture but not enough to make it feel heavy or overly rich. Promise. 
• Butter – just a little to help make the creamy sauce 
• Parmesan Cheese – to finish off the cream sauce 
• Roasted Butternut Squash – I truly believe this is the magical ingredient that brings all of these flavors together. Roasting it separately helps you get that great caramelized finish that adds a lot of dimension to the flavor. 
• Lemon Juice – for a pop of brightness at the end. 
• Parsley – love the color and flavor it adds to the dish. 
• Prosciutto – move over bacon. Crispy prosciutto is the winner here. Perfectly salty, thin and crispy. 

HOW IT ALL COMES TOGETHER

This dish happens in a few individual steps that all come together at the end. 

1. Boil the pasta. I cooked my pasta in a big pot of salted water for about 10 minutes. 
2. Roast the butternut squash. I roasted my butternut squash with olive oil and kosher salt for about 25-30 minutes on 375. 
3. Sauté and crumble the prosciutto. I sautéed my prosciutto with a little olive oil and cooked it for about 2-3 minutes on each side. 
4. Sauté the mushrooms, shallots and garlic. I sautéed my mushrooms and shallots over medium low heat for about 15 minutes and then added the garlic at the end. I wanted to cook them a little lower and slower so that they would cook down and caramelize without getting overly browned. 

I promise that these individual steps are simple and straightforward. Once they are completed the final dish comes together easily and quickly.

I feel sure that you guys are going to love Pasta Garofalo and this fall-inspired pasta dish as much as I do! I really enjoyed creating this recipe and spending time in the kitchen bringing it all together. I also think it would be a fun one to do for a date night or with kids who like to cook since there are separate elements in the dish. 

Here’s the recipe! 

THE RECIPE 

PIN IT HERE