Bethany's Vegan Kitchen

This pasta sauce is cosy and comforting, and perfect for autumn. Slowly roasted butternut squash is blended with dairy-free cream, sage and a few other seasonings to create this silky smooth sauce. It’s really easy to make, you just need to roast the squash and then the blender does the rest of the work for you

Serves: Four to six Cook time: 45 minutes

To roast the butternut squash you’ll need:

1. One medium sized butternut squash
2. One teaspoon of oil
3. A small pinch of both salt and black pepper

Method:

• Simply slice the butternut squash in half, then scoop out and discard the seeds
• Drizzle the oil over the cut sides of the squash and season with the salt and black pepper
• Roast at 220°C/200°C fan assisted for 45 minutes, or until the squash is tender

Once roasted, leave the squash to cool, and then peel off and discard the skin

To make the pasta sauce you’ll need:

1. The roasted butternut squash, this weighs roughly 375g
2. 100g dairy-free cream, I used tofu cream which is 60g silken tofu blended with 40ml plant-based milk
3. 150ml vegetable stock
4. Two teaspoons of dried sage
5. One teaspoon of onion granules
6. One teaspoon of garlic granules
7. One tablespoon of nutritional yeast
8. Salt and black pepper to taste

Method:

• Simply add everything into a blender and then blend until completely smooth. Check for seasoning and add salt and black pepper to taste
• Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the packet, then drain and return it to the saucepan. Reduce the heat to low and stir some sauce through the cooked pasta. Once the sauce is piping hot it’s ready to serve

I served mine topped with a little dairy-free parmesan style cheese. There are a few different ones available, I really like Prosociano by Violife. Store leftover pasta sauce in an airtight container in the fridge. It should keep well for up to five days. Then when you want to use it, simply reheat and stir it through cooked pasta. I found that long pasta worked best for this sauce, so serving it stirred through spaghetti or linguine would be ideal