Thursday 15 September 2011

Delicious Dinners; Cream Sauce With Pasta

Hi there, gentle viewers, today we are going to be making what we refer to in our house as 'white' sauce with pasta. Most folks call it cream sauce.

One of my favorite meals years ago before I was vegan, or even veggie, was a chicken alfredo with linguine.  They served it at a fancy restaurant that I only got to go to a few times. But the love of that dish stayed with me for years. Then, about a year and a half ago, my life changed, and we got 'The Conscious Cook' by Tal Ronnen. In this delightful cookbook is the recipe for cashew cream.  If you don't eat dairy, you need to make friends with this new cooking staple.



You take raw cashews (NOT roasted, they must be raw), and soak in water in the fridge overnight. The next day, you drain the soaking water out of the container, and put the plump, rather odd looking cashews in a blender, cover with fresh water, and puree till smooth and creamy.  Then, what I find helpful is to measure out 1/2 cup in baggies and freeze them.  Awesome.  Wonder if Tal is single? Hmm.

Anywho, on to the recipe for cream sauce. This is what you will need:

1 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium onion, chopped
2 fake chick'en breasts, cooked
1 cup soy milk
1/2 cup cashew cream
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown rice flour
2 cups water
1 tbsp soy Parmesan ( you can use nutritional yeast if you like, Denise seems to be allergic to it!?!)
1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper, or to taste.

Linguine or any other pasta you'd like.



In a fairly large pot, put olive oil in pan, and on medium heat, add garlic, onion, and diced fake chick'en and add too. Sauté till onion and garlic are done. Then add cashew cream, water, soy milk, salt, pepper, parmesan and brown rice flour.



I usually turn down the heat about now, and let simmer, stirring till sauce is thickened to desired thickness. Round about 15-20 minutes-ish.



When you add all the liquid to the white sauce, it's a good time to put the pasta on.
Drain your pasta, put on your plate, and cover in yummy sauce. I sprinkle a bit of Parmesan on top of mine.




I love pasta. I hope you will too.

- Melina

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