Vegan Cashew Alfredo, topped with sautéed Maitake and Porcini Mushrooms
If you’re vegan and enjoy cooking, I’m sure soaking nuts for cream sauces and vegan cheeses has already entered your culinary repertoire. If not, get on it. I’ve enjoyed my share of tofu-based cream sauces, but the silkiness of soaked nuts usually overrules thick soy. If you’re allergic to nuts, well, I’ll cry into my cashew alfredo for you, and sympathetically relay my soul-crushing hazelnut allergy developments. It’s hard to admit, because that makes it real.
This recent cashew and mushroom alfredo was inspired by a lovely meal at a famed vegan trattoria down the street, and the never-ending container of soaked cashews in my fridge. I must be secretly hosting soft-toothed squirrels because my cats are simply not capable of such a production.
I loosely followed this recipe for Cashew Alfredo Sauce on Vegweb. The sauce consisted of soaked cashews, water, salt, freshly ground black pepper, freshly ground nutmeg, and nutritional yeast. It was pureed in one of the prides of my kitchen (and oh-my-god, food blogging perks), the Vita-Mix. I didn’t have any lemons, so I omitted that, and utilized garlic and olive oil while sauteing local maitake and porcini mushrooms. I half-considered indulgently adding the cream sauce to the mushroom mixture, but my personal preference was to keep things separate.
When I nut alfredo it up again, I’ll be sure to add sautéed or roasted garlic into the actual sauce.
alongside: Balsamic Grilled Sugar Snap Peas
Cashew Alfredo, served over housemade fresh pasta from Pastaworks (a few varieties are actually vegan!)
It looks . . . beyond delicious.
Jess this looks devine!
Wow, gimme!
Oh WOW! I need to make this!
Can you soak “regular” nuts, or just raw nuts?
every time i make the Farm’s Marsala Tofu i make cashew creamer instead of using soy. just as delicious.
That looks delicious!
That looks yummy and I want some. Cashew-based sauces are my favorites for pasta if I am craving something creamy.
That looks SO good! I think I’m going to cave and buy a vitamix sometime in the next week or two. Seeing these sorts of things are what’s going to push me over the edge. I can’t find any negative reviews!