Whizzed cashews provide the perfect base for creamy vegan sauces, as this super-quick pasta recipe demonstrates. Lightened with lemon and wine, it’s lifted by pepper and chilli, with a savoury punch from nutritional yeast.
NUTRITION: PER SERVING
CALORIES 719KCALS
FAT 28.6G (5.4G SATURATED)
PROTEIN 26.5G
CARBOHYDRATES 78.5G (8.8G SUGARS)
FIBRE 10G
SALT 0.3G
Ingredients
- 200g unsalted cashew nuts, roughly chopped
- 200ml just-boiled water
- 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
- ½ tsp chilli flakes, plus extra to serve
- 1 banana shallot, finely sliced
- 120ml dry white wine (vegan if you need it to be)
- 350g fusilli or similar pasta shape
- Juice 1 lemon
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
- 400g tin artichoke hearts in water, drained and quartered
Method
- Put the cashews in a heatproof bowl and pour over the justboiled water. Leave to soak for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the garlic and chilli flakes, then cook for 1 minute until beginning to soften. Stir in the shallot and cook for about 6 minutes until turning golden. Add the wine and bubble until reduced by half.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta according to the packet instructions. Reserve a mug of the cooking water before draining.
- Put the soaked cashews (including their soaking water) in a jug blender with the lemon juice and yeast flakes, then whizz until smooth. Stir the sauce into the shallot mix, then add the drained pasta with a good glug of the reserved cooking water to help combine it into a smooth sauce.
- Stir in the artichokes until warmed through. Divide among bowls and season with a grinding of black pepper and some extra chilli flakes.
