I can still remember the first time I tried fettuccine alfredo. It was a packet one from the supermarket. I don’t know what possessed my mother to buy it for me, as she was all about cooking from scratch (something now I’m very grateful for).
This pasta was the bee’s knees. It was convenience food at its finest and I would never let it go. When I came to terms with the fact I was lactose intolerant, I didn’t have alfredo sauce again for 15 years.
There are plenty of vegan alfredo sauce recipes out there, but the soy factor has always put me off making it given I’m not big on imitation milk or cheese. So what makes this one special? It’s a vegan alfredo sauce that’s soy-free, oil-free, gluten-free and has a healthy dose of protein, is no-cook and only takes five minutes to make. It does contain nuts as I haven’t warmed to the taste that comes with using cauliflower or quinoa instead.
Remember how I said supermarket alfredo sauce was convenience food at its finest? Well, this five-minute version makes a good case for this title.
5-minute vegan alfredo sauce
Serves 2
250g pasta (I went with gluten-free brown rice penne)
1 c raw cashews
1/2 c filtered water
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
1 tbsp chickpea miso powder
1 tsp mushroom powder
1/2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper
1 can chickpeas, half roughly mashed with a potato masher
1/4 c fresh parsley, finely chopped
Cook the pasta according to packet directions. Drain and reserve 1 cup cooking water. Set aside.
In a high-speed blender, add 1 cup cooking water, cashews, filtered water, garlic, nutritional yeast, miso, mushroom powder, paprika, lemon juice and salt and pepper. Blitz on high until sauce is smooth.
Pour the sauce onto the pasta then add the mashed and whole chickpeas. Stir to combine then sprinkle the parsley through and serve.
Kale Mary 