Creamy Butternut Squash Pasta Sauce With Sage Butter

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Peel and cube the squash into small 1cm pieces. Set the skin aside to use in a stock or roast it for a crispy squash skin snack.

Slice the onion thickly.

Line a baking tray and spread the squash, onion and 6 of the garlic cloves (in their skins) on it. Drizzle with plenty of oil, season with salt and pepper and paprika. Roast for 30-35 mins or until soft and starting to brown, tossing halfway.

When cool enough to handle, remove the skin from the garlic cloves and the stem from the chili, if using. Take out a couple of handfuls of squash cubes for garnish and put the rest of the tray in a blender. Add the tahini, lemon juice, oat milk, olive oil and blend until smooth. Taste and season well with salt and pepper. Add a little more oat milk if you like but it’s ok if its quite thick as you will thin it down later with pasta water.

While the squash is cooking, make your fragrant butter. Grate or mince the last garlic clove. Melt the butter in a small pan on a low heat. Add the sage and heat until it starts to smell really fragrant, about 5 mins. Then add the garlic and chili and cook for another 3-4 mins, taking care not to let the garlic catch and burn - keep it on a very low heat. Season if you are using unsalted butter. Keep warm until you’re ready to serve to stop the butter from solidifying.

Cook your pasta according to package directions. Keep a cup of pasta water.

Drain the pasta and add the sauce to the pot (you may have some sauce left over, depending on how saucy you like your pasta). Heat gently and add a little pasta water to loosen it up.

To serve, plate the pasta with the remaining squash on top. Spoon over the butter and sprinkle generously with pepper.