Monday, November 23, 2009

As Promised...Creamy Vegan Pesto Pasta

Seriously...photo coming...silly computer/camera issues at the moment.

Please keep in mind that I make enough food to FEED many...so downscale the recipe if you must...or be very happy with leftovers:) Also, my personal philosophy on recipes is that they are merely blueprints...be creative and make this your own (though, it is quite scrumptious the way it was made). Happy eating.



Vegan Roasted Garlic Cream Sauce


  • one 13.5 oz can of organic coconut milk (you can use light coconut milk, but I didn't. I wanted it to have a mouth-feel as close to heavy cream as possible)

  • one 12.3 oz box of firm Silken tofu

  • 3-4 tsp Bragg's Amino Acids

  • 5 cloves roasted garlic (please roast the garlic, please)

Puree all these ingredients in a food processor or blender and set aside.


Vegan Pesto



  • 5 cups basil leaves and stems (or mix it up with spinach and basil and parsley...i just had A LOT of basil on hand

  • 1 cup raw cashews (since people make "cheese" out of cashews and there is usually some sort of nut in pesto (and i've never been a fan of pine nuts).

  • 1/2 cup Olive Oil (plus or minus a Tablespoon or two)

  • 1 1/4 tsp salt

  • freshly ground pepper, to taste

Puree all these ingredients in a food processor or blender and set aside.


Have on hand any or none of the following: Roasted bell pepper strips, steamed broccoli, cooked peas, roasted tomatoes and artichoke hearts, chicken-style seitan, baked tofu...you get where I'm going.


Directions (for a party of two)


1. Cook your pasta in salted water (I used linguine, but any noodle will do), drain and set aside. I add a touch of oil to the noodles so they don't stick, but you don't have to. You should, but you don't have to.


2. Place your vegetable of choice (I used roasted red bell peppers) in a heavy non-stick skillet with a "touch" of oil (1/4 tsp) (or not). Pour in about 2 cups (or more if you are cooking for more than two people) of the "cream" sauce and let it come to a tickled bubble.


3. Add the pasta at this time. Stir (this could be where you simply have "alfredo", but the pesto is too good to stop at this moment). Add salt now...how much? I don't know, this is where the recipe will say "to taste". And I know the pesto will seem "salted--not salty" to some, but you will want to add some salt, trust me.


4. Depending on how many you're feeding, add 1/3 cup of the prepared pesto. Stir/fold until well incorporated. Taste, salt if needed, serve and be very modest when everyone who eats this complements you on your very fine vegan cooking skills.



grace & peace,


reine

2 comments:

PB and Jess said...

Sounds awesome! I'll have to make this for my hubby.

Hope your entire family has a great Thanksgiving! :)

SweetArt said...

Thanks for making my 40-days vegan even sweeter. While i have you, we're looking to grow our menu/stream-line our space. Could you email me with soem things you'd love to see? My email address is: info@sweetartstl.com. Thak you & Happy Thanksgiving!

reine