We are well into October, and in the northern hemisphere that means: autumn! The leaves are beginning to turn, the weather is picking up wind and rain, and of course it's pumpkin season. And not just to carve scary faces into ~ let's eat them!

There are a whole lot of fun things you can do with pumpkins – cook them, bake them in the oven, stuff them, use them as soup bowls... but have you tried them as pasta sauce?

Yup, they make a great, creamy delicious pasta sauce that lends itself well to nutri-boosts, too. There are dozens of recipes out there, especially for butternut and Hokkaido pumpkins (though did you know that the orange Hokkaido pumpkins we all know and love are not really natural? Nope, their original colour is more a greyish-green-orange. But orange looks prettier, so people grew them in a way to turn them more uniformly orange).

I never used to like pumpkin, but have discovered that, just as with many other things as well, it simply needs the right approach for me to enjoy it. And pasta sauces? Are it.

So without further ado, here is one simple recipe for the perfect pumpkin pasta sauce featuring butternut squash:

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The ingredients are:

300g (gluten-free) pasta

1 butternut squash

2-4 cloves of garlic

1 onion

1 block of tofu

2 (or more) tablespoons nutritional yeast

250ml vegetable stock or plant-based milk/cream

coconut (or olive) oil

(smoked) paprika

salt & pepper

toppings: steamed greens, pumpkin seeds

The steps to make it are:

1. Cut butternut in half lengthwise and scoop out seeds.

2. Place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

3. Slice onions and arrange around butternut halves.

4. Place unpeeled cloves on garlic in seed hollows, then drizzle oil over everything.

5. Bake in the oven at 200°C for forever, I mean, until the pumpkin is soft. This takes forever, I mean, between 30 and 45 minutes. But keep an eye on your oven, so that your onions don't burn!

6. Meanwhile, cook pasta.

7. Once pumpkin is soft, scoop the flesh out into a blender. Squeeze garlic out of its skin and add, as well as the other ingredients. Break up the tofu block for easier blending. Add veggie stock, and blend everything together. If, like me, you don't own a jug blender or food processor, use the pasta pot while the pasta hangs out in the collander.

8. Add pasta back into pot and stir everything well together.

9. Serve with steamed (leafy) greens – I made pak choy while the butternut took its sweet time – and/or pumpkin seeds

Note: If you add leafy greens, you boost the nutritional value of your pasta, without too much fuss. Baby spinach leaves, rocket/arugula, possibly even kale - or spring onions or your favourite green herb, such as parsley or basil. Yes, each will change the flavour, but why is that a bad thing? Try out all the options, and you have one meal that still is never the same twice.

Same with seeds - pumpkin seeds for obvious reasions, but seasme seeds could work as well, maybe sunflower seeds - or a mix of all of them! Why limit yourself?

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Or any other nutri-booster, really. Finely ground oats, maca, protein powder ... actually, if your protin powder is based on pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds, this will work really well.

But branch out as well. Baobab powder adds some sweetness, as well as vitamin c and fibre, boosting your immune system and gut health.

Try a tablespoon tahini for extra creaminess of the sauce, as well as protein, fibre, antioxidants, and unsaturated fatty acids, for overall health and reduction of inflammation.

A splash of tamari or cocos aminos will change the flavour profile, yes, but againm why is that a bad thing? Give it a try!

Add turmeric and maybe a pinch of cayenne pepper as well.

Keep experimenting until you have find your one true butternut pumpkin sauce. 😊🍝