Pumpkin, spinach and walnut spaghetti
Pumpkin, spinach and walnut spaghetti
It’s almost the middle of the week so today’s dish is a no fuss, simple, mid-week supper. If, like me, you always have a container full of roasted pumpkin in your fridge during autumn, you will have your dinner on the table in no time at all.
If you need to roast your pumpkin, you can always do a quick yoga session while your oven does its magic. That’s what I’ve been trying to do lately – incorporate small yoga sessions into any waiting time.
I have a love/hate relationship with yoga. I know I need it as I have the flexibility of a small tank, but because I really suck at it, I tend to procrastinate. My current strategy is to develop a yoga habit (certainly much better than my current chocolate one;)) by finding 20 minutes to practise each day. Waiting for your veggies to finish roasting is as good a time as any. Once you finish, you’ll be in a good mood and your dinner will be just minutes away.
While many people enjoy pumpkin desserts, I’m a sucker for savoury dishes punctuated with this sweet vegetable. Its caramelised goodness goes so well with the flavours of garlic, chilli, spinach, walnuts and lemon that even writing about this makes me salivate. It’s a marriage made in heaven and it’s kind of hard to describe so best make it yourself:).
- 200 g spaghetti (use gluten-free if you are gluten-intolerant)
- 3 tbsp / 45 ml olive oil
- 2-3 garlic cloves, finely diced
- 2 cups of cubed butternut squash / pumpkin*
- about 100 g spinach
- ½-1 tsp chilli flakes (depending on level of heat and your preference)
- ½ lemon, zest and juice
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 30 g walnuts, finely chopped
- Coat cubed butternut squash in 1 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt. Bake in a 220º C / 430º F oven for about 30-35 minutes, until butternut squash turns soft and gets caramelised. Give it a good stir half way through baking time.
- Heat up 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Fry off garlic gently on a low-medium heat, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn. Add chilli flakes and cook for another minute or two stirring frequently.
- Cook spaghetti for a minute shorter than you would normally.
- Mash half the butternut squash with a fork or potato masher (you can also use a food processor or blender for a smoother texture). Put both mashed and whole butternut squash chunks into the pan with chilli and garlic.
- Add drained pasta and washed spinach into the pan. Incorporate them well into the pumpkin. Taste and season with pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and additional salt and chilli if needed.
- Serve immediately with chopped walnuts and lemon zest on top.
It is a widely used recipe convention to only include active time in the timing estimates, which is why roasting the squash was not included. Some websites also have overall time as well, but I don't have that option in my website unfortunately. Having looked at this recipe again, the time for roasting squash is too pesimisstic (I wrote that recipe long time ago, in a rented flat with a shabby oven) so I've updated it now - it should take more like 30 minutes at this heat. I'm sorry if you felt mislead, it was not my intention and I hope you'll enjoy this pasta if you decide to make it. x Ania
I guess it would work if you undercooked your pasta a bit and then reheated in a pan with a good splash of water. Hope this helps! Ania
We thoroughly enjoyed the pasta.
I did make a couple of very small modifications - I roasted a large clover of garlic with the pumpkin, and mashed it with the pumpkin for extra flavour. I also thinned the sauce slightly with a little of the pasta water and a generous dollop of white wine.
This will be a favourite, I’m sure of that.
Sure you can, but I personally would not advise it. It's not that kind of pasta and I don't feel like they would go so well with the other flavours. Ania