Perfect Pumpkin Pasta Sauce, Part 2: Hokkaido

It is autumn in the northern hemisphere, and for many that means: pumpkin season! Everyone is sharing their favourite pumpkin recipes these days ~ and so am I. Because while I never used to like pumpkin, it turned out I only needed to find the right approach. The right recipe.

And these days my favourite way to eat pumpkin is either simply baked in the oven and devoured with a nice sauce/dip ~ or blended with a whole lot of other good stuff into a delicious, creamy pasta sauce.

The one with butternut went up a few days ago ~ here is another very nice recipe, featuring Hokkaido and vegan feta, that also lends itself beautifully for a nutri-boost. Add protein-based pasta, like chickpea-soy fettucine from Just Taste, and some leafy greens, and you have a perfect, well-balanced, highly nutritional autumn dish.

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  pasta with sauce on spinach

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  pasta with pumpkin-based sauce on a bed of spinach leaves

Here's what you need to make it:

300g “protein” pasta, e.g. chickpea fettucin

1 small Hokkaido pumpkin

200g vegan feta cheeze

1 small onion (red or yellow)

3 cloves of garlic

200ml +/- oat cream

ca. 100ml pasta water

1-2 teaspoons lemon juice

coconut (or olive) oil

paprika + pinch of cinnamon

salt & black pepper

a handful or two of baby spinach leaves

hemp or pumpkin seeds for garnish

optional: nutri-boost the sauce!

5 tablespoons oats, finely ground

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 tablespoon maca

cocos aminos

½ teaspoon turmeric

1 heaped tablespoon protein powder mixed with oat milk

Here's the steps to make it:

1. Wash and chop the pumpkin into rough bits. Hokkaido can be eaten with skin on, so safe yourself the hassle of trying to peel it.

2. Roughly chop onion

3. Place pumpkin, onion, and unpeeled garlic in an oven-proof form. Place feta in the middle, drizzle with oil, season with spices, salt, and pepper. Roughly ½ teaspoon for each, but vary according to taste.

4. Bake at 200°C for 30-35 minutes.

5. Meanwhile, cook pasta. When draining, keep some of the water for the sauce.

6. Place pumpkin, onion, feta, and oat cream in a blender – or use the pasta pot with a stick blender. Squeeze garlic out of its skin and into the blender/pot. Blend everything together, using the pasta water in case the sauce is too thick.

7. Add lemon juice, then add more salt and pepper to taste.

8. Optional nutri-boost step: Add finely ground oats, nutritional yeast, a splash of cocos aminos, turmeric, maca, and whatever else you wish to add. Blend all together until creamy smooth (you might need all of that water here).

9. Add pasta to pot, stir everything together.

10. Serve on a handful of baby spinach leaves and topped with hemp seeds.

Note: When making the sauce, I forgot to add the protein powder. So when I reheated the leftovers the next day, I used 1 heaped tablespoon protein powder mixed with oat milk instead of water for reheating. Can highly recommend!

Note the second: Baby spinach leaves will gently wilt when you put piping hot pasta and sauce on top. Very nice! I can also see kale working here, taste-wise, but I don't think that would wilt.

In conclusion: The combination of vegan feta and nutritional yeast gives this an incredibly tangy taste. Though it is probably also very tasty without the feta, and I'd even recommend that if you can't find one that is decent, ingredient wise ~ might be best to leave it out.