Super Easy Roasted Pumpkin Pasta Sauce

Pumpkin pasta sauce is velvety, sweet, rich  and super easy to make. It is very versatile and can be prepared ahead of time and frozen. Pumpkin sauce can be used in any pasta recipe that calls for tomato sauce. This sauce recipe is amazing in a lasagna. While the lasagna is baking in the oven, I warm up the leftovers and give to my son as a soup with a sprinkling of pastina. For adult palates I may serve it as a soup with a dollop of pumpkin seed butter.  I like to use full fat organic coconut milk in this recipe, but the roasted pumpkin and garlic combination is so flavorful that any liquid even water will work well.

Ingredients:

1 large or 2 small  acorn, butternut, kobucha, hubbard or any other pumpkin or squash
2 heads of garlic
16-24 oz of liquid (water, veggie broth, cow milk, almond milk, coconut milk); depends on the size of the pumpkins and the desired consistency of the sauce
1/2 cup of fresh basil leaves
salt
pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375
Cut the pumpkin in half lengthwise, scoop out the seeds
Lay face down on a cookie tray lined with parchment paper
Wrap garlic in foil, add to the cookie sheet
Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until pumpkin is soft
Take out of the oven and let cool
With a spoon scoop out the flesh of the pumpkin in to a blender jar or a large bowl
Unwrap and without peeling queeze out the soft garlic cloves
In the blender (or a large bowl and hand emmersion blender) combine and process pumpkin flesh, garlic, liquid, basil, salt and pepper
Adjust liquid untill the sauce reaches desired consistency
Enjoy in any pasta or lasagna recipe!