Ingredients: grams Penne pasta, grams Kaddu (Parangikai/ Pumpkin) - cut into chunks, cloves Garlic - smashed, cup Mozzarella cheese, - to taste, Tomatoes, Basil leaves, Onion - chopped, cloves Garlic - or parsley, teaspoon Whole Black Pepper Corns - crushed, teaspoon Sugar, teaspoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil - for garnishing (optional), - to taste, Vegetarian diet
Instructions: To begin making the Baked Roasted Pumpkin Penne Pasta With Tomato Basil Sauce Recipe, To Cook the Pasta In a large pot, add water and bring it to a boil. Once the water has boiled, add a teaspoon of salt.Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook until the pasta is cooked till al dente (just cooked). This process should take a good 12-15 minutes to get an al dente pasta.Once the pasta has cooked, drain the water and run the cooked pasta under running water to stop the cooking process and prevent the pasta from sticking to each other.Drizzle some oil on top of pasta and make sure to coat all of the pasta with the oil so that the pasta doesn't stick to each other.To Make the Tomato Basil Sauce First boil the tomatoes with required water in a saucepan. Once you see the tomato skin peeling, switch off the heat.When the skins has peeled off you know the tomatoes are ready. Peel the skin off the tomatoes, remove the core of the tomato and roughly chop them.Do keep all the juices the tomatoes release, this will add body to the tomato sauce. Keep the chopped tomatoes aside.In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the chopped garlic and onions. Stir for a few seconds until it begins to sizzle in the oil and the onions soften.At this stage, add in the chopped tomatoes and the roughly chopped basil leaves, some salt, sugar, black pepper corns and stir to combine well.We will now use a hand blender to coarsely puree the ingredients together to get a saucy texture.Cover the pan with the lid slightly ajar and simmer the mixture for 20 to 30 minutes until the sauce is thick.Keeping the lid slightly ajar helps to thicken the sauce by evaporating the excess water.To Make the Baked Roasted Pumpkin Penne Pasta With Tomato Basil Sauce RecipePreheat the oven to 180 degree celsius for 10 minutes and keep it ready. Take a pan and add two tablespoon of oil and bring to medium-high heat.Add in cloves of smashed garlic (not chopped) saute till it softens. Add in chopped pumpkin and sprinkle some salt and saute until it is roasted well. This will take about 10 minutes to cook and you can also close it with the lid and cook. Once the pumpkin is roasted well, add tomato basil sauce and penne pasta and give a good stir.Sauté for 3-4 min till everything is well combined. Switch off the heat and transfer the Baked Roasted Pumpkin Penne Pasta With Tomato Basil Sauce into a ceramic pan and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and bake it in the oven till the cheese melts. Serve Baked Roasted Pumpkin Penne Pasta With Tomato Basil Sauce Recipe along with Herbed Garlic Bread and Pizza Margherita for weeknight dinner.