Halloween Recipe - Roast pumpkin linguine with sundried tomatoes and a chilli, basil, walnut pesto.

Happy Halloween!

I love pumpkin - not quite as sweet as butternut squash and very versatile. But I bet there's a few people who carve one up for Halloween and don't know what to do with the flesh?! Oh! what a waste :(

So, no excuses now, I've come up with this delicious Vegan creation especially for you - perfect for a cold autumnal eve before sitting round the fire and telling ghost stories until the witching hour.........

Enjoy!  

Chantal xx

roast pumpkin linguine with sundried tomatoes & a chilli, basil, walnut pesto

[serves 2 - 4 or 2 generous suppers & 2 light lunches the next day]

Gather:

ingredients gathered - i used half of this pumpkin

Roast veg

Chopped flesh of a small - medium pumpkin.

2 small - medium red onions sliced into 8-12 (leave root intact so slices hold together)

1/2 jaror deli pack of sundried tomatoes in oil - tomatoes cut into 4 pieces each

freshly ground black pepper

salt (I use pink Himalayan - expensive but wonderful and toxin-free)

Pesto

2 cloves of garlic roughly sliced

1 small pack of fresh basil - roughly torn (reserve a few leaves for the garnish)

1 handful of walnuts (approx 10 halves)

1 red chilli deseeded and roughly chopped

extra virgin olive oil or light rapeseed oil (or oil of choice)

Other

150g dry linguine pasta

1 slice stale bread (I used granary sourdough)

A little oil for frying

Create:

Set your oven to high - 220C, 200C fan, GM 7, Aga 'hot'.

1.  Chop the pumpkin, onion and tomatoes, add to a roasting dish, season and pour over about 2 tbsp of the oil from the sundried tomatoes. Mix well to coat.

veg ready to roast

2.  Roast in the oven for approx 25 mins (stiring half way) or until the pumpkin has caramelised around the edges.

3.  Add the pesto ingredients to a blender and whiz to your preferred consistency - adding oil as you go - again to the consistency that you prefer. Season if you wish.

chilli, basil, walnut pesto

4. 15 minutes into roasting your veg bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the linguine according to packet instructions - usually for about 9 minutes for the perfect 'al dente' texture.

5.  Whilst this is cooking heat some oil in a pan and fry the bread cubes until golden brown and then drain on kitchen paper.

granary sour dough bread made incredible croutons

6.  Remove the roast vegetables from the oven, drain the pasta, add to the vegetables, pour over the pesto and stir to coat and mix in well. Serve topped with the croutons, fresh basil leaves and condiments as below!

Enjoy:

I can't resist serving any pasta dish with added Nutritional Yeast Flakes as sprinkles (good for your B12 intake too). I also added some Vegan bacon flavour salad sprinkles - which were incredible with this! And lashings of Vegan mayo on the side made my trio of condiments complete!

Cooks Tips:  This would also be lovely with other cucurbits such as courgettes and with pumpkin other herbs such as rosemary and sage work well roasted with it (although they are very pungent and pumpkin has quite a delicate flavour - so use sparingly).

Learn to love this veg and don't just cook it for Halloween (see why below!)

Health benefits of Pumpkin

• It is one of the very low calorie vegetables. 100 g fruit provides just 26 calories and contains no saturated fats or cholesterol; however, it is rich in dietary fiber, anti-oxidants, minerals, vitamins. The vegetable is one of the food items recommended by dieticians in cholesterol controlling and weight reduction programs.
  
• Pumpkin is a storehouse of many anti-oxidant vitamins such as vitamin-A, vitamin-C and vitamin-E.
  
• With 7384 mg per 100 g, it is one of the vegetables in the Cucurbitaceae family featuring highest levels of vitamin-A, providing about 246% of RDA. Vitamin A is a powerful natural anti-oxidant and is required by the body for maintaining the integrity of skin and mucus membranes. It is also an essential vitamin for good visual sight. Research studies suggest that natural foods rich in vitamin A help a body protects against lung and oral cavity cancers.
  
• It is also an excellent source of many natural poly-phenolic flavonoid compounds such as α, ß carotenes, cryptoxanthin, lutein and zea-xanthin. Carotenes convert into vitamin A inside the body.
  
• Zea-xanthin is a natural anti-oxidant which has UV (ultra-violet) rays filtering actions in the macula lutea in retina of the eyes. Thus, it helps protect from "age-related macular disease" (ARMD) in the elderly.
  
• The fruit is a good source of B-complex group of vitamins like folates, niacin, vitamin B-6 (pyridoxine), thiamin and pantothenic acid.
  
• It is also rich source of minerals like copper, calcium, potassium and phosphorus.