Cashews combine with tomato sauce, veggies, and meat, to make a creamy and filling pasta dish.
No, that’s not a typo above. This pasta sauce is made out of cashews! Cashew cream to be exact. I kept seeing the idea for cashew cream on Pinterest and I thought it was brilliant. A cheesy, alfredo consistency without any dairy?! It was worth a try. All you have to do is let the cashews soak in water for a few hours, drain them, then add them to a blender and blend until smooth. It’s super simple.
Whenever we go to Italian restaurants, my mom, sister, and I like to order a tomato sauce dish and get alfredo on the side. We then mix the sauces together into a creamy, tomato sauce which is sooo delicious. I seriously suggest you try it! This cashew tomato sauce is a take on that, but much much healthier.
It’s DECEMBER and I still unbelievably have kale in my garden. Definitely not complaining-that means many of my meals have consisted of this nutritious veggie. Naturally I threw some kale into this pasta, along with mushrooms and ground turkey.
The sauce is truly the star of this dish–you can throw whatever meat or vegetables you want into it. Same goes for the pasta! I like it with whole grain rotini, because the sauce gets in all the little ridges of the noodle, but it’d be great with penne, spaghetti, linguini–whatever you prefer. Make sure to get 100% whole grain or whole wheat and remember you may need to adjust the amount of sauce you have depending on the ingredients you add and the pasta you use.
Winter is the perfect time to make a warming, filling dish, especially when it’s as healthy as this creamy cashew tomato sauce pasta!
Creamy Cashew Tomato Sauce Pasta
https://www.thesmalltownfoodie.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/CashewPasta1small.png
| Prep: | Cook: | Yield: Serves 4-5 people | Total: |
Cashews combine with tomato sauce, veggies, and meat, to make a creamy and filling pasta dish.
You'll Need...
- 1 cup cashews
- 1½ - 2 cups water
- 3 cups dry 100% whole grain or wheat rotini pasta
- 1 pound ground turkey or beef
- ½ small chopped onion (about ½ cup)
- 1 cup chopped kale
- 1 8 ounce container chopped fresh mushrooms (about 2 ½ cups)
- 1 15 ounce can tomato sauce
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon pepper
Directions
- Add cashews to a bowl and cover completely with water. Let soak for 2 hours.
- Drain cashew water, add cashews to blender with ½ cup fresh water, and blend until it reaches a creamy consistency. Add more water if it is too thick.
- Cook pasta according to package, save ½ cup of the pasta water, and drain.
- While pasta is cooking, brown the ground meat.
- Once meat is cooked, add onion, kale, and mushrooms and saute about 2 minutes.
- Add garlic and cook another minute until it starts to brown.
- Add cashew cream, tomato sauce, reserved pasta water, salt, and pepper, and mix well.
- Heat for 3 to 4 minutes until sauce is warm.
- Add pasta, mix well, and serve. Top with parmesan cheese or nutritional yeast.
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