When I went off cow’s milk, a good creamy pasta dish (without avocado or coconut milk) felt like a distant memory from a past life. Or at least that’s how I saw it until I came across the velvety concoction that is cashew milk. In this recipe, I use a thick version of it (see here). It is a brilliant substitution for heavy cream, and works really well in sauces like this one where you need to heat it up and mix it with other elements. Some people omit the nutritional yeast, but I don’t because it is tasty, packed with nutrients and pretty available in Dubai*.

Where gluten free pasta is concerned, I’m still searching for the best brand in Dubai. Overall, I stick to the ones that have as little additives as possible. I also find that a mix of corn or quinoa with rice are usually good options texture-wise. If you’ve got suggestions, let me know!

Ingredients

• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp dried thyme or herbes de Provence
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 small onion, minced
• 1 cup thick cashew milk
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast*
• 2 cups tomato passata (or strained, canned tomatoes that have been blended)
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 4 sundried tomatoes, chopped up
• 5-6 basil leaves, torn
• 500 g gluten free spaghetti
• Salt, pepper to taste

Instructions

• Heat a sauce pan to high heat and throw in the mushrooms with a pinch of salt and toss them around for 2 minutes, to “dry” them up. Add thyme and balsamic vinegar – keep cooking until it evaporates.
• Add 1 tbsp olive oil and continue tossing for a minute. Place the mushrooms in a separate bowl and set aside.
• In the same sauce pan, add the remaining olive oil, onion and garlic on low/medium heat and cook 5 minutes or until translucent
• Add tomato passata, sundried tomatoes and oregano to the pan and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes. When it starts thickening slightly and becoming a darker red, stir in the cashew milk along with nutritional yeast and whisk until it is a nice creamy pink color. Season with salt and pepper to taste, take off heat and set aside.
• Cook pasta as per package directions and drain
• Heat up the creamy tomato sauce and throw in pasta with the reserved mushrooms, gently mixing so as to coat all the spaghetti with sauce
• Serve up in the bowls and decorate with basil

*Nutritional yeast is a deactivated yeast that imparts a yeasty/cheezy taste to food, which is why it is often found in vegan recipes. It is low in sodium and is high in B vitamins. You can buy it at most health food stores, including Organic Cafe.