Butternut Squash Cream Sauce
2 cloves garlic
1/2 onion
2 carrots, chopped
2 small/medium tomatoes
1 vegan bouillon cube
1 (16 ounce) package cooked butternut squash puree
(I used frozen, but you could use fresh cooked and puree with the vegetables or use canned pumpkin)
1 (14 ounce) can light coconut milk
thyme, to taste
oregano, to taste
salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound whole wheat pasta (I like rotini)
1/2- 3/4 cup nutritional yeast
chives, to garnish
1. In a blender, puree the garlic, onion, carrots, tomato, and bouillon cube. You may need to add a little coconut milk to get the blender going.
2. In a medium pot, warm up the frozen butternut squash. Add the vegetable puree and the coconut milk and whisk together. Add the dried herbs and stir until combined. Bring to a low simmer and hold while the pasta is cooking. Taste for salt and pepper, and season.
3. Meanwhile, in a very large pot, cook your whole wheat pasta according to package directions. The sauce can wait for your pasta, but the pasta should not wait for your sauce!
4. When the pasta is almost al dente, drain, holding off a bit of cooking water to loosen up the sauce, if necessary. Put the pasta back in the pot over low heat, add the sauce, and combine.
5. Finish cooking the pasta and sauce together until al dente and turn off the heat. Toss very liberally with nutritional yeast, and serve in shallow bowls. Sprinkle each bowl with some snipped chives, and enjoy!
Source of recipe: I came up with this recipe trying to come up with a savory recipe for a can of coconut milk in the pantry.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
Made a similar butternut sauce from another vegan website this morning, it was great, looking forward to trying this version soon. I had no idea squash lends itself to vegan toppings and sauces so well, I will be purchasing much more squash in future :-)
LOVED this.
My modifications:
Used a small onion, diced small and cooked covered in white wine until nice & soft.
Left out the carrots and used more squash instead - about 2 1/2 pounds. My squash was oven-roasted with a little salt and no oil.
Used a 14.5 ounce can of Fire Roasted Diced Tomatoes instead of fresh tomatoes.
Left out the bouillion.
Left out the nutritional yeast.
Added a little nutmeg, along with the thyme and oregano.
Added about 1/4 cup of minced fresh parsley, stirred in at the end.
Used a stick blender to the point where the sauce was still a bit chunky.
Next time, I will reserve some of the pasta cooking water to thin this sauce out, depending on what shape of pasta I'm using.
I seasoned with fresh ground pepper and a little salt, but it didn't need much salt.
I was a little skeptical about using thyme and oregano. With squash? But it was a perfect combination.
Thanks so much for posting this recipe!!!
i really like this1
used soy sauce instead of bouillion cube.
I would like to add soy silk creamer next time . I didnt have coconut milk so i used soy milk.
Good statdard sauce recipe... or soup !
Wow, this turned out really good. I went a little heavier on the squash since I made it from fresh, still was fantastic. Thanks! :)
this was a pretty good, and healthy dish. I didn't have coconut milk so used soy, I think it would have been better with the coconut. I think it would definitely make a better soup than sauce, but still tasty.
We made this tonight. The whole family loved it! I modified it slightly...I pureed some of the squash with the veggies, and also left some pieces whole. I added the nutritional yeast into the sauce while it cooked instead of sprinkling it on at the end also. This would make a fabulous soup. My son, who likes everything separate, actually ate a bowl full of the sauce as a soup and had his pasta with earth balance. My husband thought it would be good with some browned tofu in it. Great way to use up that huge squash on your counter! I was at a loss of what to do with it-this is a keeper.