Spinach and pumpkin pasta bake

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 1 small Hokkaido pumpkin(s) or other pumpkin (approx. 500g)
• 500 g spinach
• 250 ml milk or cream
• 1 small onion(s)
• 1 clove(s) garlic
• 250 ml vegetable stock
• 200 g cheese, grated, to taste
• 1 cup sour cream, or créme fraîche, sour cream
• some salt
• pepper
• nutmeg
• e.g. herbs (marjoram, oregano)
• e.g. noodles

Instructions

Working time approx. 30 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 45 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 15 minutes

Clean and core the Hokkaido lettuce, remove the seeds, and cut it into 1-2 cm cubes. I don’t usually peel the Hokkaido lettuce. Place the cubes in a pan and fry gently for about 3 minutes, then add the finely diced onion and the very thinly sliced ​​or crushed garlic and sauté briefly until translucent. Next, add the spinach. If you want to do the work yourself, use fresh spinach and blanch it. For simplicity’s sake, I use frozen leaf spinach, cut it into strips, and add it to the pan, then pour in the vegetable stock. Let everything simmer for about 5 minutes over medium heat. Add the milk and sour cream, stir well, then season to taste. Mix the uncooked pasta (I prefer short macaroni) into the mixture. Mix about 2/3 of the cheese into the mixture and pour everything into a baking dish. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top. I cover the casserole and place it in the oven at 180°C for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and leave the dish in the oven for another 10 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown. We usually serve it with lamb’s lettuce and raspberry dressing. Instead of spinach, you can also use chard or savoy cabbage, or something similar.