I peeled, cored and cut up a whole butternut squash. Then tossed it with a sliced onion, a big handful of fresh sage & a generous splash of dry sherry, plus salt & pepper to taste and just a dash of nutmeg or mixed baking spice. Then roasted it in the oven for 45 minutes on 180. Be sure to stir it around and maybe add a bit more sherry if it starts to dry out.
In the meantime, put your water on to boil and cook up your gnocchi – I prefer to buy the fresh ones even if I freeze them before eating, they still seem to have a fluffier consistency that dried ones.
To make the pesto start with what I call the “vegan parmesan”
Combine in a food processor:
- 1/2 c cashews
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 tsp salt
Mix until it looks like small crumbly bits of parmesan, the kind you can buy on the shelf to shake on your pasta. If you make extra you can keep this in your fridge for 7-10 days.
Dump that into a large serving bowl and add in:
- 1/2 c fresh sage
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons dry sherry
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seed oil (I’m sure you could easily use olive oil but the pumpkin seed does add some depth if you have it)
- splash of balsamic vinegar
- salt & pepper
- dash of nutmeg or mixed baking spice
- dash of dried chilli flakes
Mix it all around and let set until the rest is ready.
Just dump in the roasted veg from the oven and the strained gnocchi from the stove and mix it all up and serve in pasta bowls with a bit more “parmesan” on top. A warm spiced hug of a meal.
