Autumn Pasta
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Serves: 6-8
A creamy pumpkin Alfredo pasta with crispy roasted pumpkin, leeks, sun-dried tomatoes and pangrattato crumb topping!
An ode to Autumn!
DID YOU KNOW?
Pumpkins are packed with vitamins and nutrients, especially Vitamin A and C. They're high in antioxidants and are good for eye, skin and heart health.
I have teamed up with one of my favourite iconic local SA brands - Nomu to create some delicious, nutritious and nourishing plant based recipes inspired by their range of incredible products. This dish is packed with spices from Nomu and they have a great selection of spices, herbs, cook's salt and local olive oil. You can use my code MIRAWEINER10 to get 10% off on your online purchases.
Let’s cook ☺
Ingredients for the sauce
500g pumpkin, chopped into blocks
1 onion, chopped into quarters
1-2 garlic cloves, halved
400ml coconut milk
500ml vegetable stock
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp Nomu rosemary & thyme blend
Pinch of Nomu chilli flakes (optional)
Nomu pink Himalayan salt & Nomu rainbow pepper to taste
Other ingredients
500g pasta of choice, I used linguini
500g pumpkin, chopped into cubes
Nomu olive oil for cooking
1 leek, finely sliced
1 cup breadcrumbs, I used a few days old sourdough roughly blended into chunky crumbs
¼ cup sundried tomatoes, chopped
2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ tsp lemon zest
¼ tsp Nomu nutmeg
Nomu Rosemary & Thyme Blend
Nomu chilli flakes (optional)
Nomu pink Himalayan salt & Nomu rainbow pepper to taste
Serving suggestion:
Fresh parsley, chopped
Method
1. Place the pumpkin, onion, garlic, vegetable stock and coconut milk into a saucepan or pot. Cook for 25-30 minutes or until the veggies are soft. I use an Omniblend high speed blender so the veggies and can go in hot, just double check if your blender can blend hot items. Alternatively, allow to cool and then reheat the sauce. Place everything into a blender and add the nutritional yeast, lemon juice, herbs (measure with your soul), chilli, salt and pepper. Blend until smooth and creamy. Taste and adjust flavour to your desired taste if needed.
2. Heat the oven to 180C. Place the pumpkin into a bowl and drizzle over olive oil so that the pumpkin is nicely coated, add the rosemary & thyme blend, nutmeg, salt & pepper. Mix well. Roast in the oven at 180C for 25-40 minutes or until the pumpkin is cooked. You should be able to pierce with a fork. I like them roasted so that they are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.
3. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions.
4. In a frying pan, add a generous glug of olive oil. Once hot add the leeks, cook for a few minutes and grate a clove of garlic into the pan. Add the rosemary & thyme blend (measure with your soul – a good generous pinch or two works well), lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper. Turn the heat down so that the garlic doesn’t burn and fry for 3-5 minutes or until the leeks have cooked down. Remove the leeks from the pan, they are perfect just as is, but if you want them extra crispy you can air fry them for some crunch on 190C for 4-5 minutes.
5. Using the same pan that you cooked the leeks in. Add an extra glug of olive oil, allow to heat and then add the breadcrumbs, grate 1 garlic clove, rosemary & thyme blend, salt and pepper to the pan. Stir continuously as the crumbs brown quickly. Add the nutritional yeast and cook until fragrant and browned. This crunchy topping is divine and can be stored in an airtight container and sprinkled onto pastas, soups, salads, grain bowls, hummus plates and eaten straight from the jar!
6. To serve, mix the creamy pumpkin sauce with the pasta and top with the roasted pumpkin cubes, crispy leeks, the breadcrumb topping and freshly chopped parsley. Enjoy!
Recipe and styling by Mira Weiner
Photography by Mark Chipps
With love,
Mira
Comments