Pasta with Cashew Alfredo and Veggies

Sunday, October 20

Pasta with Cashew Alfredo and Veggies

Rating: 4.5

I’d planned to make this last week, but ended up putting it off when I moved everything over by a day. Initially, my plan was to make this recipe from Vegetarian Times, but I forgot to buy the wine I needed. I usually just get those little mini bottles since I don’t drink wine and I wouldn’t want to waste an entire bottle just to make one or two meals. Anyway, I was without wine and about to look up other cashew Alfredo sauces, when I remembered the Cheesy Alfredo with Peas and Kale recipe at Luminous Vegans. After trying (and loving) the cashew cheese recipe, I knew the Alfredo recipe would be a good one. I was right – it was delicious. She is a cashew genius. We just made the sauce from her recipe, since we’d already planned the other veggies we were mixing in with our pasta – broccoli, spinach, bell pepper, onion, zucchini, garlic & chopped tomato. First I made the sauce. I went ahead and soaked my cashews, because I just generally do that, even though with a Vitamix it really isn’t necessary. If you don’t have a high-speed blender, you really do need to soak them, otherwise your sauces, dressings and cheeses may be a bit grainy. I added a little extra nooch, just because I love it. 

Once the sauce was done, I set it aside in a small pot with no heat until I was closer to ready to use it. When I finished prepping the veggies, I set them aside and vacated the kitchen so Seth could make the salad and garlic bread. (Scroll to the bottom of that link to find out how to make the garlic bread - you won't be sorry.) As soon as the bread was in the oven to brown, we boiled the pasta and I cooked the veggies and warmed the sauce. I steamed the broccoli first, then added a little leftover oil from the bread to the pan along with the bell pepper and zucchini. I let those cook for a couple of minutes, then added the sliced onion. When those were soft, in when the garlic. I waited until right before I mixed in the pasta & sauce before adding the spinach & tomato so they wouldn’t cook down too much. It was perfect alongside Seth’s amazing salad and garlic bread. Asparagus is also really good mixed in with this. Green beans and peas would be, too – whatever veggies are your favorites or are in season. We also like to do the same thing with veggies and pasta, but use pesto instead of Alfredo, especially in the summer months when fresh basil is abundant.