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WICKED SERIOUS CARBONARA

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Carbonara, an Italian classic, is now a plant-forward masterpiece. We’re banging it out with cashews for creaminess, mushrooms for meatiness and pasta because, PASTA! — We’re wicked serious!  Our belief holds true: plants can do anything!

There’s nothing more delicious than a warm pasta dish that’s done right. We know it’s one of our favorite go to’s. If we can recreate the comforting memory of creamy pasta with cashews, why use dairy-based cream? If we can add that little hit of smokiness+crispiness with shrooms and paprika, why use bacon? This dish is an example of how you, (yes YOU!) can make plants the center of the plate, taste great and impress … it’s wicked healthy in one shot.

  • Prep Time: 20 min
  • Cook Time: 25 min
  • Total Time: 45 minutes
  • Yield: 4-6 servings 1x

Ingredients

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For the Alfredo-style Cream Sauce

  • 1 C raw cashews, soaked for a few hours and rinsed (If you’re short on time, boil the raw cashews with the cauliflower in the first step in the directions below.)
  • 400 g Cauliflower (roughly 1 head) cleaned and dismembered into large pieces
  • 5 garlic cloves, peeled
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 3 cups water
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted (optional)
  • 1 T white miso paste (optional)
  • 1 t salt
  • 32 oz. unsweetened soy milk (or your favorite non-dairy milk)

For the mushrooms

  • 2 cups shiitake mushrooms, sliced
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 3/4 t smoked paprika
  • 1 t black pepper

For the Carbonara

  • 1 lb fresh fettuccini (453 g = 1 lb.) – *see Helpful Tip below
  • 3 T olive oil
  • 1/2 large onion, medium diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
  • 1/2 cup peas, fresh or frozen

Garnish

  • 1/2 C flat leaf parsley, leaves picked, lightly packed
  • cracked black pepper
  • coarse salt

Additional recommended garnishes (optional)

  • 3 T toasted pine nuts
  • 1 t red pepper chili flakes
  • fresh basil, shredded
  • fresh truffle or truffle oil drizzle

Instructions

To make the Alfredo-style sauce (can be made ahead of time and chilled)

  1. In large sauce pot add cashews (if you didn’t soak them), cauliflower, garlic, pinch of salt, bay leaf and 3 cups of water. Cover and bring to a slow boil on medium-high heat.
  2. Cook for 10-15 minutes or until the cauliflower easily breaks apart. Strain and remove bay leaf.
  3. Transfer mixture to a high-speed blender (add cashews at this point if you pre-soaked them).
  4. Add pine nuts, miso and salt. Begin blending on low-speed while slowly adding the soy milk. Once incorporated, blend on high for couple minutes until the mixture is silky smooth.
  5. This will yield more than 2 quarts of alfredo-style sauce. Set aside 1 quart of the mixture for this recipe and save the remaining mixture in a closed container in the fridge for up to a week for other use.

To make the mushrooms

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Add sliced shiitakes to a small bowl and toss with 1 T of the oil, smoked paprika and pinch of black pepper.
  3. In large oven-safe skillet, heat 2 T oil on stovetop over medium high heat.
  4. Add shiitake mushrooms and sauté for 2 minutes, then transfer pan directly to oven and finish roasting for 10 minutes.
  5. Remove and transfer the mushrooms to a paper towel to allow to drain and crisp up.

To complete the dish

  1. Cook fettuccini al dente according to the package instructions, set aside.*
  2. Heat large sauce pot on medium heat until hot, then add oil, onions and sliced garlic cloves and sauté for 3 minutes until they begin to brown.
  3. Add a splash of water (or white wine if handy) to loosen, then add in 1 quart of the alfredo-style sauce, peas and mushrooms.
  4. Heat for 1 minute then add pasta and stir to coat.
  5. Remove from heat and garnish with the parsley, black pepper and salt, to taste.

Notes

*Helpful Tip: while preparing this, we cooked the pasta ahead of time, and when it was time to add the pasta to the sauce we boiled a small pot of water and poured it over the cooled pasta to loosen and bring it up to temp before adding to the heating sauce.

Find it online: https://wickedkitchen.com/wicked-serious-carbonara/

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