Roasted Pumpkin and Spinach with Whole Wheat Pasta

After Thanksgiving I cut and roasted my pumpkins, which had been serving as table dressing until then. I ended up with some some puree for making smoothies or baking and some cubed, which I used in the recipe below. It's a totally satisfying, yet not overly rich, pasta meal that can be whipped together quickly for lunch or dinner.  If your pumpkin is already cooked, I still recommend tossing it in the oven for a short time to get those brown marks you can only achieve through roasting. 

Roasted Pumpkin and Spinach with Whole Wheat Pasta

Serves 4

1 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 yellow onion, thinly sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely diced
2 cups of cubed pumpkin
about 2 cups torn spinach
½-1 tsp chili flakes
½ lemon, zest and juice
salt and pepper, to taste
½ cup walnuts, finely chopped

Coat cubed pumpkin in 1 tbsp of olive oil and season with salt and some of the chili flakes. Bake in a hot oven (425º F) for about 40-50 minutes, until pumpkin turns soft and gets lightly caramelized. 

Heat up 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pan. Fry onion gently on a low-medium heat, stirring frequently so it doesn’t burn. Add chili flakes and garlic and cook for another minute or two stirring frequently.

Cook spaghetti for a minute shorter than you would normally.

Mash half the pumpkin with a fork or potato masher. Put both mashed and whole pumpkin chunks into the pan with onion mixture.

Add drained pasta and washed spinach into the pan. Incorporate them well into the pumpkin. Taste and season with pepper, a squeeze of lemon juice and additional salt and chili if needed.

Serve immediately with chopped walnuts and lemon zest on top. Shredded Parmesan on the side is also a nice garnish.