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?
I just made this last night... great! I used a little less water and it thickened up just fine, especially as it cooled a little. It's really making a nut cream (between cashew milk and cashew butter) .........
do you know how to make a vegan butter?! if so then please can you give it to me? ive been looking everywhere for a vegan margarine recipe. i live in finland and you cant buy vegan margarine in this country =( i look forward to hearing from you or anyone that can give me a recipe on vegan margarine!
also, cant wait to try this recipe out! looks great! think ill make it with asparagus and mushrooms and pasta.
This recipe was pretty good, but I thought bland. What I did to jazz it up was add some sundried tomatoes to the food processor with the sauce. Now that was good!!! And it turned a cool color too!
I keep coming back and back and back to this sauce, it's so delicious. My first, firm, favourite vegan sauce. :D
Do try it as the sauce for a gratin-like bake - no need to thicken it as it soaks in. I also love it on top of my vegelicious cannelloni (recipe's on-site if you want it ;)).
I've found that I like the flavour even better if I use a couple of dried garlic flakes instead of raw garlic. Pungent but mellow. Mmm.
I forgot to add that I heated it on the stove with about one teaspoon of cornstarch also, definitely thickened up nicely...so so so good.
This was definetely not thick enough so I did end up putting it into a saucepan and heating it up as well as adding more garlic, a dash of organic cream, onions, and also artichokes which were yummy too. Thanks! 8)
Made this last night to go over gnocchi, it was very good. Shocked at how creamy it was, really hit the spot--I realized I haven't had a creamy sauce in over 3 years (since going vegan)! Added lots of black pepper, did garlic powder instead of fresh (lots of it), a little Spike, a little veg broth powder, it was so yummy! Definitely recommend it.
I had this on pasta the other night, and it was wonderful.
So per lisaanddini's suggestion in a chat discussion, I made this for dinner with pasta and broccoli.
Alterations: per the reviews above, I was frugal in my water adding, and only started with 1/2 cup, ultimately ended up with 1 cup of water. Also, per Heliamphora's comment about raw garlic, I sauteed my garlic (and a few fried onions - my new favorite ingredient in everything) for two minutes before adding to the mix. After taste-testing, it was too bland, so I scooped in some raw garlic and 1 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of vegesal-esque salt mix. Then it had some good flavor.
Reaction: while I would describe this as a very yummy sauce (I'm having seconds as I type this!) , I wouldn't necessarily describe this is as an alfredo. It's nuttier, and creamy, yes, but not buttery or oily the way an alfredo would be. Like I said, I don't really care what you call it, it's fantastic on pasta!
I keep tweaking this recipe everytime I make it...and the last few times I've added some more cashews to get a thicker consistency right away. I think I probably used close to 3/4 cup of cashews the last time but I made it ahead of time and then popped it in the fridge where it thickened up nicely.
I would never believe this was vegan if I didn't make it myself... :D It is so creamy! It's funny that I even made this recipe, because I have never cared for alfredo. I think the thickness & heaviness always grossed me out. But today I wasn't feeling well & wanted some quick & easy comfort food. This is the perfect alfredo sauce because it has the creamy deliciousness without the heaviness that sits in your tummy like led! ;) It is light & yummy!
One problem I had was that it never thickened up much for me. It was almost like soup, but it tasted so good, I didn't care! Also, I didn't use pasta water--just regular water with a bunch of arrowroot powder--so I'm sure that part was my fault. I will definitely be making this again--and often! :) Thanks for a fantastic recipe!
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