PUMPKIN PASTA WITH PESTO, SPINACH & RED ONION

Winter to me means hearty winter vegetables. Pumpkin, sweet potato, onions, leeks, regular potatoes all make this list. Before I made this dish on Sunday night, I don’t think I had eaten pumpkin since last winter and I had forgotten how flavoursome it is, especially on chilly nights. The spinach and red onion addition was just a way to get more vegetables into the pasta. As for the pesto, I had a bunch of basil to use up that was looking rather wilted. You can certainly serve this dish without pesto, in fact, it will be much better (calorie wise) for you! 

INGREDIENTS

Pasta 

• 500g Gluten-free pasta 
• 2 tablespoons roasted pine nuts (can dry-fry in a frying pan over medium heat until golden brown)
• a generous handful of baby spinach leaves, washed 
• 400g pumpkin, cut into 2cm pieces 
• 1/2 a red onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon grape seed oil 
• sea salt & pepper

COOKING 

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to the boil. Add a pinch of salt and pasta and stir occasionally for 10-12 minutes or until the pasta is tender. Drain well with cold water. 

2. Meanwhile, place the cut pumpkin on a large plate and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the microwave on high for 7 minutes or until pumpkin is very tender. Remove and let cool. 

3. Heat grape seed oil in a small frying pan over medium-low heat and swirl to coat. Add garlic and red onion and stir occasionally for 2 minutes, until onion is soft and garlic is browned. Return heat to low and add spinach leaves and cook for 1 minute or until leaves are wilted. Remove from heat. 

4. Place the cooked pasta in a large serving bowl. Place the cooked pumpkin and spinach mixture on top. Sprinkle salt & pepper over the top. Pour pesto over the top if you wish. 

Homemade Pesto 

• a bunch of fresh basil 
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1/8- 1/4 cup olive or grape seed oil
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• sea salt
• a blender or food processor
• a mortal & pestle 

COOKING

1. Place the garlic and pine nuts in a mortal & pestle and crush into a paste. (This should only take a few seconds. You can perform this step with a blender if you wish, I just find that using the former makes a better paste). 

2. Place basil leaves in a blender/food processor and gradually add 1/8-1/4 cup oil. This process may take around 5 minutes, as we are using less oil that typically used to make pesto. If you can, try grape seed oil as the flavour is very different to using olive oil. Add salt to the basil and continue to blend/process until pesto is smooth. 

Serves / 4 

Total Preparation time / 15 minutes (20-25 with pesto)

Total Cooking time / 25 minutes (35 with pesto)

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