Cashew Alfredo Sauce
1/2 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cups boiling water (best to use starchy pasta-cooking water)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1-3 garlic cloves, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt and pepper, to taste
1. Place raw cashews (not roasted!) in a food processor and pulse until nuts are very fine. Carefully add in the boiling water; process until smooth.
2. Add the lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and nutritional yeast; process again until smooth.
3. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
It's in the blending process that the sauce thickens, which is why using starchy water is your best bet, so it takes a while. If it isn't thickening enough for you, heat it in a saucepan over a low temperature for a few minutes, and that should do the trick.
Serve over cooked pasta. I like some steamed broccoli and red bell peppers added to mine.'
SO HOW'D IT GO?
OH WOW This was out of this world! I doubled the recipe and added 4 large cloves of garlic! It was so garlicky - but I absolutely loved it! Such a rich and creamy sauce, its one of my favorite recipes I have found on vegweb. And it was SOOOOOOO easy to make! Seriously, I whipped up this recipe so quick!
I also added some broccoli, carrot, asparagus and a bit of zucchini to make it a sort of primavera pasta! It made so much and I am so happy because I look forward to lunch tomorrow! Next time I might try tomatoes too... THANK YOU FOR THIS AWESOME RECIPE!!!
:)>>>
I really loved this! I added 1/2 a lemon's worth juice, a bit more oil, and some red chili flakes. Also, more NY, and lots of s, and p. I used the food processor to pulse the cashews and garlic, and let it thicken on the stove. It thickened really fast! I added more water. I mixed it up with quinoa elbows. It would be really great with spinach pasta, or fettuccine with spinach leaves. Very simple, and fast.
I've made this about 400 times since reviewing it last. I love it. It's my favorite ever vegweb recipe, hands down. I usually add a tablespoon (or 2, or 3) to thicken it up more quickly. I mean, it's a meal done by the time the pasta is done cooking, but it's SO GOOD I just want to eat it right away. MMMM!!! Thank you again. I've been making it for everyone. It's really fantastic. :)>>>
So half way through making this, I realized I was out of nutritional yeast... so I tried to make up for it by adding about two tablespoons corn starch. It worked pretty well. I'm sure the flavor would have been a little more "alfredo-y" if I had used the yeast, but it was still pretty good!! I will definitely try again. I added peas and broccoli and tomatoes. Yum!
I've had great luck this week with new recipes. This is fantastic. Compared to all the tofu/soymilk + nutri. yeast based alfredo sauces out there, this is easier AND tastes infinitely better.. I threw in loads of garlic, some extra olive oil to give it that greasy alfredoness, and tossed the ziti with italian seasoning before serving. I bet this is something I could even serve to Mom without complaint. Thanks for an amazing recipe!!! ;)b
For you guys who think it's bland just throw in some extra seasonings and go!!!
This was AMAZING!! I had friends over and they LOVED it.
I doubled the recipe and while it was still in the blender I added a heaping teaspoon of cornstarch and lots of salt, pepper, and italian seasoning (I wanted to add rosemary but I lost it! lol).. I transferred it to a pot to keep it warm and it thickened into this rich creamy amazing sauce. I served it angel hair with roasted red peppers and tomatoes, sauteed mushrooms onions and artichokes tossed with pesto.. Such amazing complimentary flavors.
AND the cold leftover sauce makes a delicious dip for carrots the next day!
Haha.. I realllllllllly enjoyed this recipe. Definitely a new staple.
This ended up a little bland, but still very, very good. I only used one clove of garlic. I'm thinking in needs about three. I added salt, pepper, and onion powder. The recipe has great potential, but I think it still needs more of something.
I intended to make pesto, but I couldn't find any fresh basil at the grocery store, so I looked up other pasta sauce recipes and came across this. It had simple ingredients, was easy to make even w/ my cheapo blender. I had to heat it up to thicken, but it tasted fantastic and saved me a trip back to the grocery.
I add fresh parsley at the end as well as some red chili flakes, and if I'm low on cashews I use a block of silken tofu and add some earth balance as well. yummm
Oh. My. God.
I made this and put it over spaghetti squash...I just got done LICKING THE PLATE. :)>>>
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