Now that it’s getting dark at 4.30pm, how about a big tray of juicy pasta with all sorts of warming delights?
This Pasta with Roasted Peppers & Pumpkin has so many wonderful flavours:
- smoky peppers, paprika and chillies
- roasted fresh tomatoes
- sweet and seasonal pumpkin
- fragrant sage, cinnamon and garlic
Oh – and a creamy, cheesy, cashew sauce drizzled and baked into it all.
November? No problem.
As well as scooping up so many gorgeous Autumn flavours and colours, this is a great dinner to make ahead for family, guests, or just the weekend – especially with Bonfire Night fast-approaching.
You can also adapt the recipe to suit how much cooking you want to do, or the time you have. Here are a couple of alternative options to the full recipe below:
- If you don’t want to spend 20 minutes hacking into your squash, avoid munchkin pumpkins (I speak from experience). They do taste amazing though, so… it’s a trade-off. kabocha squash cooks quickly and is insanely delicious.
- Instead of roasting the pumpkins separately, peel a softer squash like butternut, cut into cubes and roast together with the other veggies.
- Instead of creating a sauce with the roasted veg, just leave them whole and stir in the pasta, pumpkin and a ladle of pasta water. Then go ahead and finish off the cooking with the cashew cheese topping.
- No time for cashew cheese? Just sprinkle on your favourite vegan cheese (or even vegan cream cheese), bake until melted, then serve.
This is a pretty easy-going recipe, and a great one to chop and change with. However you choose to make it, the combination of roasted peppers, tomatoes, pumpkin and sage works SO well.
And if you have any room left for something sweet, how about one of these tasty Autumn-inspired desserts:
Whether you’re sitting near a fire, a book or a glass of wine, have a great Bonfire Night weekend.
(And check for hedgehogs!)
- For the Pasta
- 900g pumpkin/squash (uncooked)
- A little oil for roasting (I used rapeseed)
- 2 peppers
- 6 tomatoes
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1 fresh chilli
- 1 red onion
- 10 fresh sage leaves
- 1 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp dried rosemary
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tbsp vinegar (acv, red/white wine)
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
- 100g kale
- 200g wholemeal pasta
- For the Cashew Cheese Sauce
- 100g cashews
- 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 200ml non-dairy milk
- Salt & Pepper, to taste
- Heat the oven to 200°C / 400°F / Gas Mark 6.
- Cut your pumpkin/s in half and scoop out the seeds. If you're using a larger variety (I used munchkin pumpkins), cut them again into slices. Arrange on a baking tray, drizzle with a tsp or two of oil and cook on the top shelf of the oven.
- Now de-seed and chop the peppers into 1cm pieces. Chop the tomatoes, garlic, chilli, onion and sage leaves. Put all of this, together with the paprika, oregano, rosemary, cumin, cinnamon, vinegar, salt & pepper, into a large baking tray. Put this on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 45 minutes.
- In the meantime, cook the pasta. Once cooked, just take it off the heat - you'll want the pasta water later.
- You can also make the cheese sauce now by blending all the ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Set aside for later.
- After 45 minutes, the pumpkin should be ready. Remove it from the oven to cool a little while you finish assembling the pasta.
- Turn the oven heat down to 180°C / 350°F / Gas Mark 4.
- Take ¼ of the roasted vegetable mixture and place in the bowl of a food processor together with 150ml of the pasta water. Blend, then return to the tray and mix in with the roasted vegetables, pasta and kale.
- Next, scoop the pumpkin from the skins and dot over the pasta.
- Drizzle over the cheese sauce and return to the oven for 15 minutes.
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