One-Pot Vegan Pasta with Delicata Squash, Mushrooms + Pecan Pesto
Delicata squash, to me, is essentially the unicorn of squash: often difficult to find, stunningly beautiful and the sweetest, most delicious member of the squash family. Needless to say, when I do find it, I stock up (minimum 5 at a time), use them in every recipe I can and savour every single bite of these gorgeous little things.
Now that I’ve gotten my love declaration for delicata squash out of the way, let’s talk about this pasta. First of all, I am SHOCKED that I haven’t shared this with you yet, because my boyfriend and I have made some version of this pesto pasta almost weekly for the past year. It just seemed like such a quick, throw-together meal that it never occurred to me until very recently to create a formal recipe and share it with you all. But now I’m finally presenting you with this delicata quash, mushroom and shallot pasta with vegan pecan pesto, and I am very confident that you will love it.
I love pasta dishes because they are typically very simple to throw together, they can easily sneak in a ton of veggies and they are an excuse to smother a meal in pesto, which I am all for. Sorry to tomato sauce lovers but for me, pesto > tomato sauce ANY day. This homemade vegan version swaps pecans for pine nuts (because those babies are PRICEY) and squeezes in a hefty serving of spinach, which you can’t taste at all. I just throw everything right in my blender and it turns out perfectly every time.
In terms of the squash, I love delicata here because once you slice it into quarter “rings” you can cook it up right in your pan with the shallots, garlic and mushrooms, so there’s no baking required. Of course, if you can’t find delicata, butternut squash would be an excellent substitute here. Just make sure you chop it small enough that it can cook up easily in your pan.
I absolutely love that this meal comes together all in one pot (or deep skillet). Less dishes to clean is a huge win for me since I am typically destroying my kitchen on the daily. I used my Always Our Place pan here, which I love because it’s deep enough that you can boil the pasta right in it, then cook everything else in the same pan after you drain the pasta. A large, heavy-bottomed pot would work great too! I hope you make and love this one - perfect for a lil Valentine’s date night this weekend, too ;)
One-Pot Vegan Pasta with Delicata Squash, Mushrooms + Pecan Pesto
Ingredients
½ pound pasta of choice (I used gluten-free brown rice rotini)
up to 1/4 cup of salt, for the pasta water (I know it seems like a lot, but trust me!)
2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
3 large shallots, sliced
3 medium delicata squash, sliced lengthwise with seeds scooped out
300 grams (about 2 cups) mixed mushrooms of choice, sliced/torn
Handful of arugula
Sea salt + black pepper
Chili flakes, if desired
For the pesto:
⅓ cup chopped toasted pecans
1 clove of garlic
2 large bunches of basil (about 2 cups, packed)
1 large handful of spinach
⅓ cup olive oil
½ tsp sea salt
Squeeze of lemon
Method
Slice your delicata squash into 1/2 inch rings (they will be “half” rings since you’ve already sliced it lengthwise). Cut each of these rings in half again, so you have approximately 1-inch pieces of squash.
Make your pesto by combining the toasted pecans and the garlic clove in a blender or food processor. Blend until you have small pieces of pecan, then add in the remaining pesto ingredients. Blend until everything is combined and mostly smooth. Taste and add more salt or lemon if desired.
Bring a large pot or deep skillet of water to a boil and add up to 1/4 cup salt. Cook your pasta according to directions until al dente - it should be slightly undercooked since it will finish cooking in the pot. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water, then strain the pasta and set aside.
In the same pot/skillet, heat your 2 tbsp olive oil over medium. Add the sliced shallots and a big pinch of sea salt and cook for 2-3 minutes or until just starting to turn translucent Add the sliced garlic, delicata squash pieces and another pinch of salt and stir. Cook over medium heat, covered, for 6-8 minutes or until the squash pieces are tender and browned. Stir the mixture occasionally to make sure that the shallots and garlic aren’t burning. Add your mushroom pieces and cook everything uncovered for another 5-8 minutes, until everything is browned and soft.
Turn your heat down to the lowest setting and add your cooked pasta to the veggie skillet. Add a few big scoops of the pecan pesto and mix to combine everything. Add pasta water slowly to loosen up the sauce (up to 2/3 cup) and continue to stir until the pesto is well distributed.
Remove from the heat, add fresh black pepper, top with arugula and red pepper flakes if desired and enjoy!
Serves 2-4
