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Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Chickpea Lentil Pasta

This creamy vegan pumpkin chickpea lentil pasta will delight your taste buds with it’s tantalizing flavor combo of pan-fried capers and slivered almonds, roasted shallots, garlic and sage along with the addition of creamy vegan goat cheese.

Are you ready for another season of pumpkin crazed recipes? Robyn from Simply Fresh Dinners is here today to satisfy your pumpkin pasta cravings!

I don’t have a lot of pumpkin recipes on my blog so I decided it was time to combine it with my favorite Chickapea pasta! I’m finding that I’m leaning towards more vegan recipes these days as well so this was the perfect opportunity to play mad scientist in my kitchen.

My secret to this tasty dish?  I use a high quality organic extra virgin olive oil to pan fry the shallots and capers.  and reserve the leftover oil.  Place the  garlic and sliced shallots on your baking sheet and top the shallots with fresh sage leaves and drizzle it all with the oil.  Fabulous.

You can roast the pumpkin as well but I’m all about quick and easy so I went with pumpkin puree this time.

You can use a food processor or your your high powered blender to bring it all together and you’re ready. Quick and easy, right?

Speaking about blenders, if you don’t have a Vitamix yet, stay tuned because next month we’re giving one away along with organic sauces, oils and beautiful pottery!  It’s everything you need for a delicious pasta dish.

My regular readers know I create a monthly recipe for Chickapea Pasta and you can see them here along with some fantastic dishes from my talented blogger friends.  It’s so much fun to experiment with this healthy pasta in my kitchen and there is no end to the types of dishes you can make with gorgeous, seasonal produce.

With the holiday season fast approaching, this is a great go-to meal for the nights when you’re in need of some clean eating. A simple dish with robust flavors. Cheers!

5 from 4 votes
Creamy Vegan Pumpkin Chickpea Lentil Pasta
Prep Time
15 mins
Cook Time
20 mins
Total Time
35 mins
 
This creamy vegan pumpkin chickpea lentil pasta will delight your taste buds with it’s tantalizing flavor combo of pan-fried capers and slivered almonds, roasted shallots, garlic and sage along with the addition of creamy vegan goat cheese
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Canadian
Servings: 4
Calories: 364 kcal
Author: Robyn Gleason | Simply Fresh Dinners
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup raw cashews
  • 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tbsp capers, dried
  • 1/4 cup slivered almonds
  • 2 shallots, sliced
  • 5 cloves garlic, peeled
  • handful of fresh sage leaves
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 4 ounces vegan goat cheese
  • 1/2 cup vegetable stock
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • pinch of red pepper flakes
  • 8 ounces Chickapea Pasta penne
Instructions
  1. Soak the cashews in water overnight or a minimum of 3 hours.

  2. Heat olive oil in small pan on medium high. Add capers and almonds and saute until almonds are toasted; about 4 minutes.
  3. Remove capers and almonds with a slotted spoon and set aside. Reserve oil.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 F. On baking sheet place garlic and shallots. Top each slice of shallot with a fresh sage leaf. Use reserved oil to drizzle over sage, shallots and garlic. Roast for 15 minutes. Remove from oven.
  5. Pour the vegetable broth into the blender. Add raw cashews, pumpkin puree, goat cheese, shallots, garlic and sage. Add salt and pepper to taste. Reserve a few roasted sage leaves for garnish.
  6. Blend on high speed and smooth and creamy. You may need additional vegetable broth to get your desired consistency.  You will only need half of this sauce for your dish.  Reserve and refrigerate/freeze the other half.

  7. Cook your pasta according to package directions. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water. Drain, rinse and return to pot.
  8. Add 1/4 cup of pasta water along with pumpkin sage sauce to your pasta, tossing lightly until penne is coated. Add additional pasta water if you want it super creamy.
  9. Top with reserved sage leaves, capers and almonds. Sprinkle with a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Recipe Notes

This sauce is enough for two dishes.  Reserve half.  It freezes well or will keep for up to 5 days.  (perhaps longer but that's as long as I kept it before using again)

To Save Time:

Skip the step of sauteeing of capers and almonds.  You can drizzle your regular olive oil over the shallots, garlic and sage.

** I garnished this dish with raw sage leaves for photography purposes only.   I do not recommend eating raw sage.   The taste is raw and unpleasant.

 

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