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Wicked Serious Carbonara

Wicked Healthy

Wicked Serious Vegan Carbonara

Carbonara, an Italian classic, is now a plant-forward masterpiece. We’re banging it out with cashews for creaminess, mushrooms for meatiness and pasta because, PASTA!

Ingredients

  1. FOR THE ALFREDO-STYLE CREAM SAUCE:
  2. 1 Cup / 200g raw cashews, soaked for a few hours and rinsed (If you’re short on time, boil the raw cashews with the cauliflower in the first step in the directions below.)
  3. 400g Cauliflower (roughly 1 head) cleaned and dismembered into large pieces
  4. 5 garlic cloves, peeled
  5. pinch of salt
  6. 1 bay leaf
  7. 3 cups water
  8. 1/4 cup / 50g pine nuts, toasted (optional)
  9. 1 Tbsp white miso paste (optional)
  10. 1 tsp salt
  11. 32 oz / 900ml unsweetened soy milk (or your favourite non-dairy milk)
  12. FOR THE MUSHROOMS:
  13. 2 cups / 400g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  14. 3 Tbsp olive oil
  15. 3/4 tsp smoked paprika
  16. 1 tsp black pepper
  17. FOR THE CARBONARA:
  18. 1 lb / 450g fresh fettuccini
  19. 3 Tbsp olive oil
  20. 1/2 large onion, medium diced
  21. 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
  22. 1/2 cup / 100g peas, fresh or frozen
  23. GARNISH:
  24. Small bunch of flat-leaf parsley, leaves picked, lightly packed
  25. cracked black pepper
  26. coarse salt

Preparation

Serves 4-6

Method

  • In a large sauce pot add cashews (if you didn’t soak them), cauliflower, garlic, a pinch of salt, bay leaf and 3 cups of water. Cover and bring to a slow boil over a medium-high heat.
  • Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the cauliflower easily breaks apart. Strain and remove bay leaf.
  • Transfer mixture to a high-speed blender (add cashews at this point if you pre-soaked them). Add pine nuts, miso and salt. Begin blending on low-speed while slowly adding the soy milk. Once incorporated, blend on high for couple minutes until the mixture is silky smooth.
  • Set aside half of the mixture for this recipe and save the remaining mixture in a closed container in the fridge for up to a week for other use.

To make the mushrooms

  • Preheat oven to 375.
  • Add sliced shiitakes to a small bowl and toss with 1 T of the oil, smoked paprika and pinch of black pepper. In a large oven-safe skillet, heat 2 Tbsp oil on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Add shiitake mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes, then transfer pan directly to oven and finish roasting for 10 minutes. Remove and transfer the mushrooms to a paper towel to allow to drain and crisp up.

To complete the dish

  • Cook fettuccine al dente according to the package instructions, set aside.
  • Heat large sauce pot on medium heat until hot, then add oil, onions and sliced garlic cloves and sauté for 3 minutes until they begin to brown. Add a splash of water (or white wine if handy) to loosen, then half of the alfredo-style sauce, peas and mushrooms.
  • Heat for 1 minute then add pasta and stir to coat.
  • Remove from heat and garnish with the parsley, black pepper and salt, to taste.

Helpful Tip: while preparing this, we cooked the pasta ahead of time, and when it was time to add the pasta to the sauce we boiled a small pot of water and poured it over the cooled pasta to loosen and bring it up to temp before adding to the heating sauce.

Recipe courtesy of Wicked Healthy, for Veganuary

Imagery © Derek Sarno

Find more great-tasting recipes on the Wicked Healthy website.

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