Vegan pumpkin pasta sauce with wild mushrooms is an easy and healthy recipe filled with the flavours of autumn. An easy 4-ingredient pumpkin sauce tossed with pasta and topped with sautéed mushrooms, garlic and herbs will give you a filling and delicious 30-minute dinner for a chilly fall evening.

I often complain about the lack of basic produce in supermarkets here (green onions? fresh peas?), but wild mushrooms are one rare gem that appear in virtually every supermarket for an all-too-brief period of time in the fall.

On Tuesday and Friday evenings I attend a dance class and leave my husband in charge of dinner. He’s been complaining more and more about it as his repertoire of vegan dishes is somewhat limited.

Vegan pumpkin pasta sauce with wild mushrooms is an easy and healthy recipe filled with the flavours of autumn. An easy 4-ingredient pumpkin sauce tossed with pasta and topped with sautéed mushrooms, garlic and herbs will give you a filling and delicious 30-minute dinner for a chilly fall evening.

Last Tuesday, however, he was quite proud of himself for preparing a quick sauté of camagrocs and young garlic shoots. He seemed super excited that it’s wild mushroom season (and that he can add one more dish to his vegan recipe repertoire for the next few months).

So a couple days later we headed down the street to our local veggie store and picked up four varieties of local wild mushrooms: camagroc, rossinyol, rovelló and fredolic (I was only intending to get two varieties for this recipe but he got so excited in the store and insisted we try some of each).

Vegan pumpkin pasta sauce with wild mushrooms is an easy and healthy recipe filled with the flavours of autumn. An easy 4-ingredient pumpkin sauce tossed with pasta and topped with sautéed mushrooms, garlic and herbs will give you a filling and delicious 30-minute dinner for a chilly fall evening.

This pumpkin weighed more than seven kilos and cost more than ten euros. I foolishly handed it over to my husband to carry home, who delighted himself the whole way by repeatedly raising it over his head and asking “do you like Smashing Pumpkins?”

Luckily the pumpkin made it home in one piece and I’ve now got my entire winter’s supply of pumpkin for all the pumpkin spice lattes, pies and pumpkin curries my heart desires.

So this recipe for vegan pumpkin pasta sauce with wild mushrooms is the result of this week’s produce adventures. This recipe can, of course, be made with any variety of mushroom, wild or cultivated. Choose the varieties that you like and have available to you. And of course you don’t need to use fresh pumpkin either – canned will work just as well.

VEGAN PUMPKIN PASTA SAUCE WITH WILD MUSHROOMS

Vegan pumpkin pasta sauce with wild mushrooms is an easy and healthy recipe filled with the flavours of autumn. An easy 4-ingredient pumpkin sauce tossed with pasta and topped with sautéed mushrooms, garlic and herbs will give you a filling and delicious 30-minute dinner for a chilly fall evening.

INGREDIENTS
½ cup raw cashews
2 cups pumpkin puree, fresh or canned
½ cup vegetable stock
3 cloves of garlic, one whole and two minced, divided
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of olive oil
250 grams (9 oz) of mixed mushrooms
2 shallots, minced
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
A pinch of salt and pepper
250 grams (9 oz) of pasta, any variety you like
Chopped fresh parsley, for garnish

INSTRUCTIONS
Soak the cashews in hot water for 15 minutes until soft. Blend the cashews, pumpkin puree, vegetable stock, one whole clove of garlic and salt in a blender until smooth and creamy.
Cook the pasta according to the package directions.
Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Start with the larger varieties of mushroom. Spread them in a single layer in the pan and fry, without stirring, until golden brown – about 2 minutes. Stir and continue frying until golden on the other side. Remove to a plate and continue with the smaller varieties of mushroom. Remove to the plate with the other mushrooms then quickly fry the shallots, 2 minced cloves of garlic and thyme until soft and transparent. Combine with the fried mushrooms and sprinkle over some salt and pepper.
Toss the pasta with the pumpkin sauce and fried mushrooms, reserving some mushrooms to decorate the top. Sprinkle over some fresh chopped parsley.