Vegan Creamy Kale and Zucchini Pasta
Creamy pasta with lots of vegetables makes the perfect vegan weekday/night meal.
Servings: 4
Calories: 433kcal
Ingredients
- 1/2 pound uncooked pasta I used penne.
- 1/2 cup raw cashews
- 1/2 cup coconut milk full fat from the can, not lite
- 1 cup hot salted pasta water divided
- 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast flakes
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 8-10 ounces fresh zucchini about 1 medium zucchini, quartered and thinly sliced
- 1/2 onion thinly sliced (about 2/3 cup)
- 2 cloves garlic crushed and minced
- 1/4 cup green peas I used frozen variety
- 1 cup packed kale or spinach leaves
- Chopped basil or parsley for garnish optional
Instructions
- Bring 2 quarts of water + 1/2 tablespoon salt to boil in a large pot. Cook pasta until al dente according to package instructions in salted boiling water. (When pasta is done, save
- In a high-speed blender, place cashews, coconut milk, 3/4 cup pasta water, yeast flakes, lemon juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend on high until smooth.
- In a large skillet, heat olive oil on medium-high heat. Once oil is hot, add zucchini and onion. Toss veggies occasionally to keep them from burning, and sprinkle with a pinch of salt. If you're using kale, go ahead and add that now as well. (If you're using spinach, wait until later.)
- Once veggies are barely fork tender (should take only a few minutes of cooking), add garlic and green peas to your skillet, and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
- Pour pasta and blender contents over the veggies in your skillet, and stir to combine. If you're using spinach rather than kale, go ahead and add that in now as well. Allow mixture to cook for another 30 seconds or so--just until everything is hot and bubbly looking. Your cashew cream will thicken up pretty quickly, and you'll want to remove it from heat as soon as it does. If you cashew cream is too thick and is starting to look goopy (??), go ahead and toss in the extra 1/4 cup of pasta water that you saved.
- Garnish with fresh chopped basil or parsley, if desired, and serve immediately.
Notes
If you don't have a high-speed blender, you can still make this recipe. You will probably want to soak your cashews for several hours in advance before attempting to make this recipe. Additionally, because cashews absorb some water while they soak, you may need to slightly decrease the amount of pasta water that is added to this recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 433kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 14g | Fat: 18g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Sodium: 311mg | Potassium: 642mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 1855IU | Vitamin C: 37.1mg | Calcium: 63mg | Iron: 3.6mg