Beetroot bucatini

Ingredients

• 380g bucatini, spaghetti or linguine
• 40g feta, crumbled, to serve

For the beetroot sauce

• 1 large beetroot, including the stems and leaves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed
• 1 tbsp chopped parsley stems
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh basil stems, plus basil leaves to garnish
• 4 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 70ml oat milk

For the crispy garlic breadcrumbs

• 1 clove of garlic, grated or thinly sliced
• 50g breadcrumbs (homemade from a
  stale loaf, or shop-bought)

Method

To make the beetroot sauce, bring a pan of water to the boil, add the whole beetroot and cook for 10-15 mins or until tender. Drain the beetroot and set aside to cool for a few minutes, then cut into quarters.

Meanwhile, in a non-stick frying pan over medium heat, heat the olive oil and cook the onion, garlic, parsley and basil stems for 3-5 mins until fragrant and soft. Remove from the heat; do not wash the pan.

Put the beetroot into a food processor or blender, add the onion mixture, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Pulse for 1 min, then, with the motor running, stream in the milk. Blend on high speed until very smooth. If the sauce is too thick, add a little more milk, 1 tbsp at a time, to loosen.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the bucatini and cook for 9 mins or until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 4-5 tbsp of the pasta cooking water.

Meanwhile, prepare the crispy garlic breadcrumbs. In a separate frying pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat, add the garlic and fry for 1 min until lightly browned. Add the breadcrumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until lightly charred and fragrant, about 2-3 mins. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In the same frying pan used for the onion and garlic, add the cooked pasta and beetroot sauce and stir well over low-medium heat for 2 mins. If too thick, stir in some of the reserved pasta water.

Serve the pasta in bowls or on plates, garnished with roughly torn basil leaves, crumbled feta cheese and crispy garlic breadcrumbs.

Image: Lizzy Mayson

Recipe from You Can Cook This! by Max La Manna (Ebury Press)