Creamy Pumpkin and Spinach Pasta Bake
A delicious vegetarian pasta dish that's perfect for a midweek dinner! Team this up with a fresh salad and some crusty bread for a complete meal. For a low carb option, swap the pumpkin for broccoli and pasta for cauliflower florets.
Recipe Tester Feedback: “This dish is basically the definition of comfort food. We had it on a very cold winter's evening, and it was just perfect for a cold, tired and hungry family." - Julia
No: Egg / Nuts
Contains: Gluten / Dairy
*Variations: Can be made without Gluten
Preparation Time 15 minutes
Cooking Time 55 minutes
Serves 8
Can be frozen
You will need:
2 small bowls
peeler
knife
chopping board
steaming attachment lower dish
saucepan
sieve
large mixing bowl
spatula
extra large casserole dish
Ingredients
- pasta - 600g, spiral (*can use GF)
- cheese - 100g, grated, to sprinkle on top
- salad of choice - to serve
- bread - crusty, to serve (*can omit or use GF)
- Sauce:
- pumpkin - 1kg, butternut, peeled and cubed
- water - 800g, hot
- cream cheese - 500g
- tomato soup - 400g tin, condensed
- milk - 150g
- salt - 1 tsp
- pepper - 1/2 tsp
- baby spinach - 60g, leaves
- cheese - 200g, grated
- Variations / Serving suggestions:
- cauliflower - florets, to replace pumpkin
Method
- If you need to grate your cheese, add cubed cheese (300g total) to the bowl and grate Speed 7 / 5-10 seconds. Set aside.
- If your family doesn't like whole spinach leaves (60g), you can shred them by hand or blitz in the mixer. Set aside.
- Add the peeled and cubed pumpkin (1kg) into the steaming attachment lower dish. Set the steaming attachment into place. Pour hot water (800g) over the pumpkin into the bowl. Program 22 minutes / Steaming Temperature / Speed 2. While the pumpkin is steaming you can continue on to the following steps.
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta (600g) according to the packet instructions. Drain once cooked and add to a large saucepan or mixing bowl.
- Once the pumpkin is cooked, remove the steaming attachment from the bowl and empty out the water.
- Place 1/3 of the steamed pumpkin into the mixer bowl and the remaining 2/3 of pumpkin pieces with the cooked pasta.
- Add the cream cheese (500g), condensed tomato soup (400g tin), milk (150g), salt (1 tsp) and pepper (1/2 tsp) to the mixer bowl. Program 3 minutes / 90C / Speed 3. Pour the sauce over the drained pasta and pumpkin pieces.
- Add spinach leaves (60g) and grated cheese (200g only) to the mixture and stir well.
- Pour into an extra large casserole dish.
- Sprinkle the remaining grated cheese (100g) over the top.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until cheese is golden.
- Serve with a side salad and crusty bread.
- Enjoy!
Make your own!
* Make your own crusty bread with the Crusty Baguettes recipe from The Picnic Issue, the Gluten Free Crusty French Bread recipe from The Healthy New Year Issue or the Cheat's Sourdough Bread recipe from The Breakfast Issue.
