Left-over Butternut Squash "Pesto"

One of my favourite things in the kitchen is to use leftovers to make a completely different type of meal. In my last post I mentioned reserving a couple of spoonfuls of roasted butternut squash from the spicy quinoa stuffed squash. This could apply any time you roast any type of squash, or even something like roasted peppers - hold back a bit and use it the next day for this perfect pasta dish. I have called it "Pesto" as this is what inspired this sauce, but I put it in "" to protect myself from the wrath of any pesto purists!

I moved out of my parents house just over a year ago, and as yet haven't built up much cooking equipment of my own beyond the basic pots, pans, wooden spoons and roasting tins. One thing I did invest in, however, is a hand blender.

I use the word invest quite loosely - the hand blender I own is a Tesco's own brand one. I tried to find it to post a link, but it isn't on their website. The point is, however, that you don't need to spend lots of money to get a hand blender that has the right attachments for you and does a perfectly good job. I used the small processor part for this recipe.

This would also be a great way to use up a little bit of basil - sometimes you don't have enough to make pesto, but then you risk it going limp and wasting it. I didn't have any for this, but do add it in at the whizzing up stage if you have some.

30g hazelnuts (I had these - use pine nuts if you have them)
20-30g vegetarian parmesan/grana padano
2 gloves garlic

Left-over butternut squash
Olive oil
Mange tout/sugar snaps/peas/broadbeans
Pasta for the number of people eating

Get the water on for the pasta, salted of course.

Combine the hazelnuts, cheese, garlic, squash and a couple of glugs of olive oil in the mixer. Whizz up until smooth, and something like this...

Season to taste.

Cook the pasta according to packet instructions. A couple of minutes before it is ready add in some green vegetables - I had some sad looking mangetout in the fridge so I used those.

Before draining the pasta reserve a little bit of the pasta water. This is a good tip for any pasta dish - it helps the sauce and pasta combine.

Drain the pasta. Return to the pan and add a knob of butter. Stir in the butternut squash mixture, heating gently. Add in some of the reserved pasta water to loosen it slightly.

Serve, garnished with some parmesan shavings.