Creamy Cashew Pasta

By Tom and Shona Pickering

Our approach to cooking...

Our approach to cooking is based around taste, convenience and health. So typically, we try to make our meals quite fast and easy, without sacrificing on the healthy qualities that whole plant foods provide.

We tend to cook a lot of ‘one pot meals’, where in we throw everything in a big pot and cook it up with a dose of delicious herbs and spices for flavour. This way we often put about 6 portions of food together in around 15 minutes, which is great when you find yourself pressed for time.

Plant based cooking has really taught us how to be creative in the kitchen, but the best advice we could give is to go with the flow. We’re not professional chefs (in case it wasn’t obvious!) – far from it. Bu that’s the thing, you really don’t need to be in order to cook up delicious wholesome plant based goodness.

There might be times when you want to cook something but you only have half the ingredients available. No problem, just substitute with other ingredients. There might be times where you think you’ve got the measurements wrong, or overdone the spices. No problem, in time you’ll get the hang of it. In fact, we don’t ever measure portions or spices anymore, we’ve just learned how much flavour we need depending on the dish, and often it tastes different to the time before as a result of this, but it’s still always tasty!

I suppose what we’re trying to say is have fun with it. Use these recipes as a starting point then make them your own. These are all quite simple recipes really, but deep down that’s something that all of us seem to have forgotten. The whole foods the planet has provided for us generally provide everything we need.

With that said, it’s time to tuck in!

This is one of our favourite meals to cook with the creamy cashew sauce. It provides a good amount of healthy fats, plus the pasta and cashews top up the carbs and protein, so you’ll feel energised and fully satiated, not to mention all the veggies providing various other nutritional benefits.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup Cashews
  • 300ml Soya Milk
  • 4 cups Wholemeal Pasta
  • 1 tin Chickpeas
  • Tofu
  • 1½ cups Mushrooms
  • ½ Red Onion1 cup Green Beans
  • 1 cup Plum Tomatoes
  • 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
  • 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika
  • ½ teaspoon Black Pepper
  • Nutritional Yeast

Instructions

  1. Make the creamy cashew sauce and leave to one side (see creamy cashew sauce recipe).
  2. Bring wholemeal pasta to boil and allow to simmer away while focusing on the rest of the dish.
  3. Chop up the red onion, green beans, plum tomatoes and mushrooms, then throw in a pan with a splash of boiling water to avoid sticking. Simmer away for 5 minutes, then add a full block of tofu chopped into cubes and 1 tin of chickpeas, along with all the spices and cook for a further 7 – 8 minutes on a lower heat. Add a splash of boiling water if it sticks to the pan at any point.
  4. Now add the creamy cashew sauce and cook for another minute or so until the sauce is heated through and nicely coats the food.  Drain the wholemeal pasta and throw it into the mix – add more sauce if needed, then serve up and enjoy the creamy delight you’ve just cooked up. Dress up the dish with some veggies on the side to add a further nutritional punch.
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