January 9, 2011: Pumpkin Sage Pasta Bake

leftover sage leaves; this had me thinking of gnocchi together with pasta dishes dressed alongside sage together with brownish butter.  Veganomicon offered me a recipe inwards this vein that was a piddling to a greater extent than nutritious together with far to a greater extent than practical - a pumpkin sage pasta bake.  Pasta gets coated alongside a sauce made from pumpkin puree, cashew ricotta together with warm spices, thus topped alongside crunchy herbed breadcrumbs.

We made a few changes to suit us, the principal ane beingness that nosotros roasted together with pureed our ain pumpkin instead of buying it canned (that's just... actually non a thing inwards Australia).  Then nosotros reduced the dried sage quantity inwards the crumbing together with fried our fresh sage leaves equally a crispy garnish.

This recipe was a thorough workout for our build novel nutrient processor (yay!) - the breadcrumbs, cashew ricotta together with pumpkin all went through it at simply about stage.  Even alongside those rotating blades doing their share, this was a labour intensive recipe together with I was glad to conduct maintain Michael's assistance throughout.  We were rewarded alongside many hearty meals throughout the week.  Michael liked this best alongside a milkshake of Tobasco sauce, spell I'll hold out looking to supercede a piddling of the pasta alongside bake-friendly veges inwards future.

Pumpkin sage pasta bake
(adapted slightly from Veganomicon, past times Isa Chandra Moskowitz together with Terry Hope Romero)

600g pumpkin
five tablespoons olive oil
375g penne pasta
ii onions
1 tablespoon brownish sugar
1/4 teaspoon solid orbit down nutmeg
white pepper
cayenne
1/4 loving cup vegetable stock
5-8 fresh sage leaves
tabular array salt together with pepper

cashew ricotta
1/2 loving cup raw cashews
1/4 loving cup lemon juice
ii tablespoons olive oil
ii cloves garlic
600g tofu, drained
1 tablespoon fresh basil leaves, roughly torn
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

crumb topping
ii tablespoons olive oil
ii 1/2 cups breadstuff crumbs
1/3 loving cup walnut pieces, solid orbit down to coarse crumbs inwards a nutrient processor
1 teaspoon sage powder
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
tabular array salt together with pepper

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Remove the pumpkin's peel together with chop the flesh roughly. Place the pumpkin chunks into a baking tray, stir through three tablespoons of the olive crude together with flavor alongside tabular array salt together with pepper. Bake the pumpkin until soft, virtually thirty minutes. Set the pumpkin aside.

While the pumpkin is baking, convey a medium-large saucepan of H2O to boil together with attain the pasta according to the instructions on the packet. When it's done, drain the pasta, rinse it alongside mutual frigidity H2O together with drain again. Set the pasta aside.

While the pumpkin together with pasta are cooking, yous volition in all likelihood conduct maintain fourth dimension to laid upwards the onions. Slice them into sparse rings thus tike them on depression oestrus inwards a tablespoon of olive oil. Cook them until they're real soft together with sweet, 10-40 minutes, stirring them occasionally. Be certain to accept them off the oestrus earlier they burn.

Next up, build the cashew ricotta. In a nutrient processor, blend together the cashews, lemon juice, olive crude together with garlic until thick together with smooth-ish. Crumble inwards the tofu, sprinkle over the basil together with salt, together with procedure farther until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the mixture to your largest mixing bowl.

Hopefully past times this fourth dimension your pumpkin has cooled a little. Place it inwards the nutrient processor (doesn't affair if there's nevertheless ricotta dregs inwards there) together with blend it to a smoothen puree. Transfer the pumpkin to the bowl of ricotta, adding the brownish sugar, nutmeg, white pepper together with cayenne to taste, together with stock. Stir it all together until good mixed. Fold inwards the pasta together with onions.

Get the crumb topping going whenever yous conduct maintain a spare moment. We used the frypan that had cooked the onions together with didn't bother to build clean it out inwards between. Heat the olive crude thus add together the remaining crumb ingredients. Fry the crumbs for three to iv minutes, stirring regularly, until they're golden together with crunchy.

In a large baking tray, spread out the pasta mixture evenly. Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs together with bake the casserole until the crumbs are good browned, virtually thirty minutes. Allow the pasta bake to residuum 10 minutes earlier serving. In this time, oestrus a tablespoon of olive crude on high oestrus together with tike the fresh sage leaves until crisp. Serve the pasta bake garnished alongside the fried sage leaves.