20/10/2009

Vegan MoFo Day#20:Pasta Alfrenara

I was never a fan of creamy pasta sauces in my pregan days and the thought of veganising one just never occurred to me until I started seeing them pop up all over the MoFo. Practising what I preach I was totally inspired to concoct a Carbonara/Alfredo sauce and I'm so glad I did.
Now I'm not too sure what the difference between a carbonara and an alfredo is. I'm presuming a carbonara has bacon in and an alfredo does not. Would I be right?
Anyhoo - this recipe doesn't have bacon in (DOH!) so I shall call it a alfrenara or carbonedo. Alfrenara sounds better I think.
This was so super scrummy and I can't wait to get back home and wow Mr treehugger with it.
In true heathen style I didn't write down what I did but it's SO easy you can't go wrong.
Ingredients
serves 3
2 cloves of garlic
1 cup raw cashews
1 Tablespoon light tahini
1 Tablespoon pesto or 6 Basil leaves
4 Tablespoons olive oil
1-2 Tablespoons lemon juice
300 ml of vegetable stock
salt to taste
1 onion sliced thinly
load of mushrooms sliced thickly
half cup of white wine
freshly ground black pepper
corriander/cilantro leaves
Method
In a blender whizz up the garlic, cashews, pesto, tahini, 2 Tablespoons of the olive oil and lemon juice in that order. Add 200ml of the stock. Taste and if it needs salt add a little bit to your liking.
In a pan add the remaing 2 Tablespoons olive oil and fry the onion for 5 mins. When it starts to get a small bit of brown colouring, add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 mins. You will need to stir this regularly. Add the white wine and cook for a further 5 mins, again stirring regularly.
Add the cashew mix from the blender and stir well. If you like a runnier sauce (I do) then add the remaining stock.
Add black pepper to taste and the chopped up corriander/cilantro.
Serve over your favourite pasta.
YUMMERS!

Sorry totally crappy photo. It was night, I was hungry.

Go VEGAN!
GO MoFo!

17 comments:

Matt (Our Veggie Kitchen) said...

That looks great. I honestly never thought of adding mushrooms, I will in the future for sure. Thanks =)

And the difference between Carbonara and Alfredo is egg. A Carbonara's sauce is a combination rendered pig fat and raw egg and the sauce is all about texture created by the egg.

Vegan Epicurean said...

Carbonara sauce is classically made with whipped eggs (or just egg yolks) that cook as they hit the hot pasta and alfredo is a cream based sauce. Being part Italian I used to make both of them far too regularly in the past.

Your sauce sounds good and much healthier.

Jenn said...

Yum! That sauce sounds really good, whatever you call it!

Kelly Peeples said...

Ohhh that looks so very good. Will have to try this one before the month is out!

jessy said...

i think your alfrenara looks super scrummy indeed, Jeni! i've already printed out your recipe, too! garlic, pesto, mushrooms, wine, and cashews - hellz yeah! everything we love is in your pasta dish! mmmmmmmmmmm!

wingraclaire said...

Sounds like you made a new word! I'm definitely going to try your sauce. I never ate those egg or cream based sauces anyway.... but what you made looks good!

chow vegan said...

Either way, that looks yummy! :-)

Monique a.k.a. Mo said...

This sounds so good to me. I've never had carbonara, so I don't know the difference. But I love me some pasta either way.

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

yummmmmm! pasta carbonara was one of my favourite dishes in my omni days, i'll have to try this out.

vegan.in.brighton said...

Oh yum, that looks great. I've already copied the recipe onto my computer and I can't wait to make it!

KiKi said...

aww, Jeni, you should have told me what you were working on!
I would have helped you chop those mushrooms and would have felt so honoured to be invited for a plate of your Pasta Alfrenara... ack, am drooling all over the place now *dripdropdrool*

Deb said...

This looks so good! I was the same way about cream sauces in my pregan days, and actually just made my first creamy pasta sauce a few weeks ago - it was from vegan yum yum...no way am I talented enough to come up with my own recipes! lol. I'll have to give this a try soon!

miss v said...

i'm a huge fan of creamy pasta sauces... i make them more than i make marinara, it seems. i've never tried one with pesto - awesome idea!

Susan said...

I never liked creamy sauces pregan either - they always made me feel ill. But now I am vegan I do love a good creamy sauce.

Sirona said...

I tried this tonight and it went down a storm with the whole family including my 3 year old. Thank you!

Jen Treehugger said...

It's delicious isn't it Sirona! So glad you all enjoyed it.
:)

Gauri Radha गौरी राधा said...

That pasta looks so good.