With Halloween just around the corner I thought it was about time I started to make a few Pumpkin recipes. The local farm shop that we go to has started to sell this delicious fruit again. I love making dinners, treats and desserts with pumpkin. Pumpkin is a seasonal vegetable to us in the UK and we only really see it around October time. It’s always good to cook with it when it becomes available.
Pumpkin is delicious in stews, soups, salads and lots of puddings but I love it roasted. It turns sweet and juicy when cooked in the oven. I have made this Vegan Mac and Cheese recipe on numerous occasions and I have added Marmite to it as well. My husband, Howard, loves that recipe. I had never thought about adding a roasted vegetable to it until I saw the pumpkins in our local shop. So I decided to add it to the Mac and Cheese and it worked well.
Equipment
- Sharp knife
- Chopping board
- Baking tray
- Frying pan
- Large saucepan x 2
- Mixing bowl
- Stirring spoon
- Pie dish
- Grater
- Teaspoon
- Tablespoon
Ingredients
- Cashew nut cream cheese x 250 ml
- Oat milk x 100 mls or more
- Spring onions x 1 bunch 8 -10 onions
- Carrots x 1
- Brown rice pasta x 300g (or wholemeal pasta)
- Pumpkin x 200g
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Nutritional yeast x 3 – 4 tbsp
- Sesame seeds x 1 tbsp
Method
- Make the cashew nut cream cheese.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C and put the baking tray in.
- Remove the skin and seeds from the pumpkin.
- Chop into cubes and place in the baking tray.
- Put the pumpkin into the baking tray and add a good drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
- Toss them together.
- Place in the oven for about 30 – 40 minutes or until the pumpkin starts to turn golden brown.
- Once cooked remove from the oven and leave to cool.
- When it’s cooled add the cream cheese to the cashew nut cream cheese.
- Boil the pasta as per the packet instructions.
- Start by slicing the spring onions into 1/2 centimetre pieces.
- Peel and grate the carrots.
- Heat the frying pan on a medium to high heat.
- Drizzle olive oil in the pan and when hot add the spring onions.
- Fry until they soften.
- Then add in the grated carrots and fry for a further 3 minutes or so and set aside.
- In the large mixing bowl, mix together the pumpkin cream cheese and the oat milk.
- Add 100 mls or more of the milk to make the cheese sauce to a consistency you like.
- Now add in the leek and carrots
- Meanwhile drain the pasta.
- Put the drained pasta into the mixing bowl with the pumpkin cream cheese mixture.
- Mix them together.
- Season with salt and pepper and mix again.
- Then serve with broccoli and enjoy.
Roasted Pumpkin Vegan Mac and Cheese is a simple but delicious dish. My husband and son ate this dinner without too much fuss. I love my son but he’s very fussy when it comes to vegetables. Any way I can hide fresh veg in his meals and I will do it. The beauty of this meal is the cashew nut cream cheese and the pumpkin could be made in advance of the meal. Then stored in the freezer until ready to use. You can make the roasted pumpkin into puree and just add them together on the day. However you decide to eat this dish, as always, enjoy.
What do you like to do with any pumpkins you buy? Let me know in the comments below and please don’t forget to like and follow me. xxx
Googies Kitchen Life 