This is the ultimate quick, easy and delicious indulgent dinner. Simply blend the sauce made from cashews, almond milk and miso paste, and pour over the cooked mushrooms before stirring through the pasta. The trick to getting the sauce right is using a powerful blender, less powerful blenders will work but may mean you end up in a slightly bitty texture - soaking the cashews for even longer will help with this. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do!
Serves 4-6 & takes 20 minutes to cook
Ingredients
For the pasta
4 large portobello mushrooms, cut into small pieces about the size of a pea
1 block of veggie-style parmesan cheese (optional, leave out for a vegan version)
400g pasta (we use a good quality linguine)
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
For the sauce
200g cashews
1 garlic clove, peeled
300ml almond milk
1 heaped teaspoon of brown rice miso paste
Juice of 1 lemon
Pinch of salt
Method
1. Start by making the sauce. Place the cashews in a small bowl and cover with boiling water. Leave to soak for 10 minutes, before draining and placing into a powerful blender (we use a NutriBullet) along with the rest of the sauce ingredients. Blend until completely smooth.
2. Put the pasta on to cook in a large pan of salted boiling water. Cook for 1 less minute than suggested on the pack. Once cooked, drain and reserve any pasta water in a bowl - leave to the side until needed.
3. While the pasta is cooking, place a large pan over a medium heat and add a drizzle of olive oil. Once warm, add the mushroom pieces and a good pinch of salt. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes until the mushrooms are soft and reduce in size.
4. At this point, pour in the sauce and mix through. Grate in a good amount of parmesan (completely up to you how much you would like to add) and cook over the heat until the sauce is piping hot and has heated through, adding any pasta water if the sauce ever becomes too thick.
5. Once the sauce is hot, stir through the drained pasta. Cook for a couple more minutes until the pasta is completely coated in the sauce.
6. Spoon the pasta into bowls and top with black pepper and more parmesan (if using).