Can you make PESTO out of SQUASH?

Pesto goes way beyond Genovese with basil and pine nuts. To prove it, here is the ultimate Italian fall recipe with roasted squash and walnut pesto for your next pasta dish. Loaded with flavor and easy to make it is the ultimate expression of autumn. It can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge until you need it.
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Contents of this video:
0:00 - Intro
0:38 - The Anatomy of the Pesto
1:10 - Prepping the Squash
2:01 - Making Squash Pesto
2:49 - Priest choking pasta shape???
3:41 - Making Pasta with Squash Pesto
4:17 - Tasting
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Serves 4 as a first course
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 35 minutes
Ingredients:
320 grams of pasta (strozzapreti in this recipe)
250 grams of squash
2 garlic cloves in the skin
¼ cup of grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup of chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:
Prepare the oven by preheating it to 375 degrees and then prepare the squash. Start by cutting the skin off and cut it into cubes. Toss with a tablespoon of olive oil and put it on a baking sheet with the garlic cloves. Roast in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes or until they are tender and soft.
In the meantime put on some water to a boil and add salt. Once the squash is cooked, put it in a food processor or blender and add the walnuts, cheese, garlic with the skin removed, and olive oil. Blend until smooth and then add salt and pepper to taste.
When the pasta is cooked, reserve a few tablespoons of the cooking liquid. In a bowl, add a cup of the pesto and a bit of the pasta cooking water to loosen it up so it adheres to the pasta. Toss the pasta with the pesto and serve.

[@cotefamilyfoodarchive]

Great video, Sal. I never thought about making pesto with anything but basil. In Lebanese cooking we have a similar idea with dips like hummus. You can make it with just about everything, not just chick peas, as long as you use sesame paste, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil (in fact hummus translates to chick peas so anything else you make with those ingredients shouldn't really be called hummus). Eggplant (baba gannouj), beets, squash, zucchini, avocado, just about anything can be made into a delicious dip.

[@actuallyitalian]

That's a great point about hummus. Same concept at play there that you can mess around with the template and come up with something different each time.