Roasted Beetroot Rigatoni

The colour! An easy showstopper (and white t-shirt ruiner). Slow roasting brings out the beetroot's sweeter side, matched perfectly with tangy crème fraîche and a zing of lemon.

Serves 4 | Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes (or about 40 minutes with the shortcut)

Ingredients:

• 5 small to medium beetroots (or 1 pack of pre-cooked beetroot, see shortcut below)
• 1 whole garlic bulb
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
• ½ tablespoon apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
• Juice of half a lemon
• 320g Monty & Sons Rigatoni
• 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Scrub the beetroots clean and pat dry. Line a baking tray with foil, add the whole beetroots and garlic bulb, drizzle with the olive oil and vinegar, and nestle in the thyme. Cover with foil and roast for 1 to 1½ hours, until a knife slides through a beetroot easily. Leave to cool slightly.
2. While the beetroots roast, toast the pumpkin seeds in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat with a pinch of salt. Once they start to brown and pop, remove from the heat and set aside.
3. Cook the pasta in well-salted boiling water, reserving a cup of cooking water before draining.
4. Once the beetroot is cool enough to handle, rub the skins off with paper towel. They should slip away easily.
5. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins into a blender. Add the peeled beetroot, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Blitz until smooth, adding pasta water as needed to loosen the sauce.
6. Return the drained pasta to the pan with as much sauce as you like, toss to coat and season to taste.
7. Plate up, top with a dollop of crème fraîche and the toasted pumpkin seeds, then drizzle with olive oil to serve.

Shortcut: If you can find them, the packs of pre-cooked beetroot from the supermarket work a treat and cut the time right down. Skip the beetroot roasting entirely. Just slice the top off the garlic bulb, drizzle with olive oil, add the thyme and wrap in foil, then roast at 200°C for about 30 minutes until soft and golden. Add the pre-cooked beetroot and the vinegar straight to the blender with the garlic and carry on from step 5.