Creamy Vegan Autumn Pasta
Reduce your carbon footprint by making this Creamy Vegan Autumn Pasta for dinner tonight. This recipe uses in-season vegetables and a fair trade cashew cream sauce for a plant-based dinner that is absolutely delicious.
Prep Time30 mins
Cook Time20 mins
Servings: 4
Calories: 570kcal
Ingredients
Cream Sauce
- 1 cup raw Fair Trade cashews soaked
- 1/2-1 cup unsweetened, plain plant-based milk (can substitute with filtered water)
- juice of half a lemon
- 1 clove garlic
- 4 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp salt
Pasta
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 10-12 brussels sprouts trimmed and halved (approx. 8 ounces)
- 4 large crimini or baby bella mushrooms sliced (approx. 4 ounces)
- 4 cups farfalle (bowtie) pasta 8-10 ounces of any type of dried pasta would work fine. I used gluten-free brown rice pasta.
- 1 small Fresno chili sliced (optional - can substitute with red pepper flakes or omit if you prefer no heat.)
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 1 clove shallot minced
- 2 cups spinach
For Serving
- 1/2 lemon sliced for serving on the side
- salt and pepper to taste
- additional nutritional yeast to taste
- Fair Trade chili flakes optional substitute for (or addition to) Fresno chili
Instructions
- Blend soaked cashews, 1/2 cup almond milk (or filtered water), lemon juice, and garlic together. If you haven't soaked your cashews in advance, you can quickly soften them by putting them in a heat-safe bowl and adding very hot (just under boiling) water to cover them. After 15 minutes, drain the water and your cashews should be ready to blend.
- Blend in nutritional yeast and salt. Taste and add additional nutritional yeast and salt to taste. Add additional almond milk if too thick, a little at a time. Set aside.
- In a large pan, heat a tablespoon of olive oil on medium heat. Add the brussels sprouts in a single layer and use a wooden spoon to get as many of the cut-sides down as possible. Don't stir for first 3-5 minutes so that the sprouts can sear.
- Once sprouts are in pan, bring water to a boil in a large pot. Set aside.
- While pasta is cooking and once sprouts have begun to sear, flip the sprouts. They should be a nice brown color. Add the rest of the olive oil, the mushrooms, and fresno chili to the sauté pan. Sauté on medium heat an additional 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sprouts and mushrooms begin to feel tender.
- Add garlic, shallot, and spinach. I recommend moving some of the ingredients to the sides of the pan so that the garlic and shallot can cook directly on the pan. Sauté everything additional 1-2 minutes until spinach is wilted and garlic is browned. Turn to low heat while you prepare the pasta, stirring occasionally.
- Cook pasta according to instructions (usually 7-12 minutes)
- Drain pasta and add it back to the pot it boiled in. Add the vegetables from the pan and stir in the cream sauce.
- Serve with additional slices of lemon to squeeze on top (highly recommended) and salt and pepper to taste.
Notes
*This recipe goes well with a simple green salad on the side.
*Using cashews as a base for cream sauce is a concept invented by other wonderful vegan cooks which I have adapted for use in this recipe.
*Nutritional information is based on rough estimates