'Tis the season for winter squashes! I love the variety of pumpkins and squashes in the markets now - my favorites being pumpkin pie pumpkins (those small round guys), buttercup pumpkin and when lucky enough to find them, kabocha squash aka Japanese pumpkin. Good ol' butternut squash is excellent all year 'round too and is particularly loved by my girls. All of these squash varieties can be used in this recipe. Choose your favorite and the flavor of it will shine through in this simple yet delicious sauce.
By the way, this luscious sauce is creamy yet completely dairy-free. And if you serve it on either chickpea pasta like I did, or rice or quinoa or similarly wheat-less pasta, this meal is also gluten-free. I like that my chickpea pasta amps up the protein factor in the meal for us. But I've also had this on regular durum wheat penne pasta and needless to say, it was also divine!
I use my Vitamix blender to blend the ingredients into a rich and velvety sauce. If you don't have a blender, you can use an immersion blender.
Honestly, it's taken me way longer than I intended to write up this recipe, so without further dilly-dallying on my part, here it is. I hope you love it as much as my family does!
Roasted Garlic Pumpkin Pasta with Crispy Sage
{ dairy-free, gluten-free, vegetarian }
Recipe serves 4 (makes about 4 cups of sauce served on 1lb of pasta)
INGREDIENTS
For the sauce:
3/4 C raw unsalted cashews (optional soak 3-4 hours - see Method below and why soak nuts here)
1/2 head of garlic
1 medium pumpkin (or 2 cups of roasted pumpkin puree)
1 1/2 C chicken broth, homemade or high-quality low or no sodium store-bought
1 C unsweetened almond milk
3 tbsp arrowroot starch
1/2 C nutritional yeast
2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
For serving:
8-10 fresh sage leaves
Ghee or coconut oil for frying sage leaves
Coarse salt for sprinkling
1 lb dry chickpea pasta or any pasta of your choice
METHOD
Optional step - soak the cashews in about 1.5 cups of tap water with a pinch of salt for 3 to 4 hours. Drain and rinse thoroughly. In general, I prefer to soak nuts prior to using as it removes enzyme inhibitors making them easier to digest and absorb. It also makes them easier to blend smooth in particularly for those who don't have a high-powered blender. However, if you don't have time, you may skip this step and simply use the raw cashews dry.
Preheat the oven to 400f. Cut the pumpkin down the middle lengthwise or if it is large, cut it again to get 4 quarters. Leave the seeds and pulp for now, it's much easier to scoop out after roasting. Sprinking with salt and place cut-side down on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I never use any oil if I'm using parchment - no sticking yay!
Take the head of garlic and break it into two halves with your hands. We are using half a head only in this recipe - I find an entire head is a bit overpowering. Lop off the top bit of garlic with a knife so that the inside is exposed - this will make it easy to squeeze out later. Wrap the half head of garlic up in aluminum foil and place it on the baking sheet with the pumpkin. Roast everything in the 400f oven for 45 minutes or until the pumpkin edges are nicely browned and the flesh can be scooped easily with a metal spoon, and the garlic is soft and easy to squish out.
Meanwhile, heat ghee or oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, carefully lay sage leaves in the oil and fry until crispy, about 3-5 seconds. Drain on paper towel and sprinkle with coarse salt.
Once the pumpkin and garlic are done, scoop the seeds and pulp out of the pumpkin and discard. Scoop pumpkin flesh into a blender. Puree until smooth and measure 2 cups of it to remain in the blender for the sauce. Reserve the remainder pumpkin puree, if any, for another use. (Tip: I freeze extra pumpkin puree and pull it out for soups and sauces on a whim!)
Squeeze the garlic out of its skin directly into the blender (discard the skin).
Add the soaked and well drained cashews (or dry cashews if you skipped the soaking step), chicken broth, unsweetened almond milk, arrowroot starch, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper into the blender as well. Blend until smooth.
If you have a Vitamix like me, you can use the "soup" function for this step which will heat the sauce up to serving temperature. Otherwise, no worries, just pour the sauce into a pot and gently bring it to a simmer. But do NOT overboil or the sauce will thicken too much and the arrowroot starch may cause it to seize up a bit. If this does happen though, add more broth or almond milk and whisk to thin out again.
Serve the sauce over cooked pasta of your choice. Garnish with crispy sage (you can break them up over the pasta with your hand and sprinkle it all over).
Enjoy! xx
