This was a bit of an experimental pasta sauce recipe, that actually resulted in something so delicious! It’s a fairly random combination, but in my opinion, it’s completely works! I’ve become a little addicted to making pasta recipes this month and just love trying out different sauces and flavour combinations. They make great lunch and dinner dishes and are perfect to cook up in large batches to feed the whole family or meal prep for later in the week.
The combination of the avocado and almonds creates this super smooth, velvety pasta sauce without using any creams, cheeses or milk! Almonds are one of my favourite nuts that I make sure to invoice into my diet regularly; they’re great in recipes like this and or just for a quick snack on the go. This recipe is completely plant based and packed with healthy fats. I also wanted to give it a little cheesy tang, so have added in one of my kitchen cupboard staples: nutritional yeast. This stuff is super handy for making vegan cheese alternatives and cheesy sauces. It looks a little odd.. kinda like fish food flakes, but trust me it tastes really yummy! You can pick this up online or at most health food stores throughout the UK.
To intensify the flavours of this dish even more.. I’ve also added in some deliciously rich sun-dried tomatoes. These are a fantastic ingredient to have on hand, as they just inject a wonderful flavour into salads, soups, stews, pastas.. pretty much any dish really. I usually buy these dried and either soak them or just toss them straight into the pan. They work really well in this dish and add little bursts of salty flavour. To top everything off, the dish is finished with some sautéed garlicky mushrooms- aka one of my favourite things ever! Talking about this pasta to you now has got me really craving some of this for my lunch today now!
This makes a pretty hefty portion of sauce, so you’ll have lots left over to make even more delicious pasta again tomorrow! For the pasta, here I’ve just used a plain rigatoni, but you can use whatever shapes you like or gluten free if you can’t have wheat pasta- I really like brown rice or quinoa pastas, but I feel like you have to experiment with these and try out different brands because they can really vary in texture and taste.
Creamy Vegan Almond Pasta
Ingredients
Sauce:
- 1/4 cup almonds- I used Wonderful Almonds
- 1/2 ripe avocado
- 1/2 cup non-dairy milk I typically use coconut or cashew
- 1 clove crushed garlic
- Pinch of sea salt and black pepper
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
Pasta:
- 2-4 servings of pasta of your choice
- Small handful sun-dried tomatoes
- 200 g chestnut mushrooms
- Olive oil spray/olive oil
- 1 clove garlic- crushed
- Black Pepper and herbs to garnish
Instructions
- To make the sauce, pop all of the ingredients into a blender and blitz until smooth and creamy.
- Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
- Wash the mushrooms and thinly slice. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat and add int he crushed garlic.
- Pour in the mushrooms and sauté these until golden and crisp on the edges. Slice the sun dried tomatoes into small pieces and add these into the pan also.
- Once your pasta is cooked, drain most of the pasta water, reserving a little in the bottom of the pan to help create that delicious creamy consistency when you stir in the sauce.
- Add a few Tbsp of your sauce and mix through the pasta. Stir through 2/3 of the mushroom and tomato mixture and heat the pasta until piping hot.
- Serve topped with the remaining veggies and extra sauce if you desire. Garnish with some herbs and black pepper. You can also add some vegan cheese here if you have some.
