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13 Jan, 2021

Baked Rigatoni in a Creamy Tomatillo Sauce with Borlotti, Kale & Butternut Squash

In this rigatoni bake, the vibrancy of kale, cherry tomatoes and squash are concentrated and dialled up by roasting them in the oven and bathing them in a sage and chilli-infused parmesan & ricotta sauce. A one-pot recipe packed full of healthy stuff, yet is still a comfort dish through and through.

Recipes

Serves 6

Ingredients:

  • 1.2 kg Crown Prince, butternut squash or pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
  • 3 red onions, cut into wedges
  • 6 garlic cloves, 2 bashed to a paste, 4 bashed and left whole
  • 1 dried chilli, crumbled, or a few pinches dried chilli flakes
  • ½ bunch sage, leaves picked
  • 5 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
  • 300g kale, destemmed and roughly chopped
  • 500g rigatoni
  • 400g ricotta-style vegan cheese
  • 125g grated parmesan-style cheese, plus extra to sprinkle
  • 400g cooked borlotti beans

For the tomatillo salsa:

  • 1 x 2.8kg tinned tomatillos
  • 100g coriander
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • A thumb of ginger
  • A bunch of spring onions
  • 60g serrano or jalapeno chillies
  • 1-2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 120ml lime juice
  • Vegan cream to stir through

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 7. Place the squash, red onions, garlic, chilli and sage in a roasting tray, season generously, then drizzle over the oil and mix well with your hands so that every bit of squash is coated. Put in the oven for 30-40 minutes, shaking the tray occasionally, until the squash is a little crisp and the onions are caramelised.
  2. Bring a pan of salted water to boil and cook the kale until tender. Remove with a slotted spoon and leave to drain in a colander. Bring the water back up to the boil and cook the rigatoni for a couple of minutes less than it says on the packet, so that it is still a little firm to the bite.
  3. Squeeze any remnants of water from the kale and finely chop. Stir the ricotta-style cheese and half the parmesan-style cheese together with a fork, season well and stir half through the kale.
  4. To make the tomatillo salsa roast the garlic, ginger, chillies and spring onion at 300c for around 8 minutes. Blitz with the rest of the ingredients and then stir through the cream.
  5. Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking liquid and return to the pan. Stir in the kale and borlotti and add the tomatillo cream so that you have a deliciously wet sauce coating the pasta. Empty into a big baking dish and scatter over the roasted squash, tomatoes and sage. Dollop over the remaining ricotta-style mixture, pushing it down into the pasta.
  6. Sprinkle the pasta with and the rest of the parmesan-style cheese, drizzle with a little oil and bake for 20 minutes until the parmesan has melted and the top is golden brown.

You can also order this meal ready-made for you from our fridge fill range here!