Recently I’ve been in the kitchen constantly creating (and eating) many delicious plant based meals. I decided to give the plant based diet a try to help with my autoimmune disease and I’ve ended up loving every minute of it. Not only are all my meals extremely nourishing and delicious they are cruelty free. I can’t believe the difference in my health after I started eating this way and I don’t think there’s anyway I could ever go back.
I’ve been really craving something creamy lately so I decided to try coming up with a carbonara dish because that was always one of my favourites. It’s so versatile and you can add whatever veggies you want! I really wanted mushrooms in there but I didn’t have any, I think they would have made a great addition but you could put in zucchini, green onion, sun dried tomatoes what ever you want. The addition of the smoked paprika gives it that amazing Smokey flavour that bacon usually would.
I know most cashew creams are made with raw cashews but roasted is all I had and it worked amazingly well. I think it gave it a slightly sweeter flavour which contrasted the tartness of the lemon.
I used brown rice pasta as I try to eat gluten free as much as possible. The brand I use is amazing and I can never even tell the difference!
Recipe:
Creamy cashew carbonara
1 cup of cashews (I used roasted because that’s what I had
Water
1/2 white onion
2 garlic cloves
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 stock cube
Pepper
2 Tbs nutritional yeast (optional)
1 Tbs lemon juice
Additional ingredients:
500g pasta of choice
1/2 Finely diced white onion
1/4 frozen peas
1/4 finely chopped kale or spinach
1 handful parsley (diced finely)
Method:
1. Put the cashews in a pot with enough water to cover and the 1/2 stock cube.
2. Boil the water for about 10 minuets or until the cashews have softened. Add extra water to cover as some will boil off.
3. Place the cashews and stock in a blender with the onion, garlic, lemon, smoked paprika, nutritional yeast (optional) salt and pepper. Blend until very smooth and add more of the ingredients to your taste if needed.
4. Cook the pasta to packet instructions.
5. In a seperate pot heat olive oil on low/medium heat and add the onions. Sauté until translucent then add the kale or spinach and cook until soft.
6. Add the peas, parsley and cashew sauce to the pot and cook on low heat until the pasta is ready. If it becomes too thick add a spoonful at a time of the pasta water until it’s the consistency of your liking.
7. Turn off the heat to your sauce when the pasta is done. Drain the pasta and add to your sauce.
8. Serve and garnish with more parsley. Enjoy!
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