Avocado-Cilantro Cream Angel Hair

March 17, 2014 Kathleen Henry

This is such a delightful spring dish. It also happens to be counting as my "green" today. If you follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram you know that my morning was pretttty shitttty. Needless to say, I completely forgot it was St. Patrick's Day and ran out of the house thankful to be on time for work (breastases aren't going to be mammogramin' themselves you know), let alone wearing green. Lucky for me (I'm part Irish), not a single person pinched me today. Whew!

If you happen to be one of those poor souls who hates cilantro (I hear it's genetic...no, seriously) stay far, far away from this dish. Same goes if you strongly dislike avocados. However, I have yet to meet such a person and will totally notify you if I ever do. Who hates avocados?

This is one luxurious dish. Angel hair pasta bathes in a light and dreamy avocado-cilantro cream sauce. It's a bit sweet, with a hint of ginger and zesty lime. Barring any anger towards cilantro or avocado...you're going to love it. You'll also love that it's done in the time it takes to boil up some pasta! And that's something we can all be thankful for.

Side Note: It's weird to me now that I used to make pasta sauces sans veggies. Like non-vegan, traditional mac & cheese and alfredo sauce. My vegan mac & cheese is made with sweet potato and my alfredo sauce with cashews and cauliflower. Then there's this delicious cream sauce with cilantro and avocado. Ponderous. How sad and boring (not to mention lacking some superfly nutrients) it must be for people to make traditional pasta sauces. They don't know what they're missing...and that makes my heart all glum.

Avocado-Cilantro Cream Angel Hair

Serves 6

Notes: The pasta should be done at the same time, or just after the sauce. You don't want it to sit cooked.

16 oz. angel hair pasta, dry
1 tsp. olive oil
6 large garlic cloves, sliced
2 large ripe avocados, pitted
1 large bunch of cilantro (stems and all)
3 limes, juiced
1 small knob of fresh ginger, peeled and rough chopped
1/2 cup plain non-dairy milk
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 Tbsp. agave nectar or maple syrup
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. When boiling, cook according to package which is usually about five minutes. Drain and return to pot.

Meanwhile, heat the 1 tsp. of olive oil in a small saute pan. Add the garlic and saute for a few minutes, until browned and fragrant. Remove from heat.

In a food processor, add the remaining ingredients including the sauteed garlic. Process until smooth and creamy.

Add the sauce to the cooked and drained pasta, stir well to coat.

Serve hot.

Careful not to break your juicer! Todd doesn't know his own strength...

Oh dear.

Listening to Yuna – Someone Who Can

Good Deed of The Day: Don't even get me started on the parents that buy little chicks and baby bunnies for their kids on Easter, let alone if they're dyed. I'm going to just stop right there. Sign this petition to help Julie Burge, the director of Burge Bird Rescue, stop the selling of baby chicks, ducks, and bunnies for Easter. It only takes 5 seconds. You'll find my signature there!

German Word of The Day: Cream (with regards to food) --> Sahne (pronounced: Zahn-neh) - Remember, I am not German...regardless of how much I might pretend. I am learning the language though! If you ever see that I am wrong *gasp* or just have something to add, please do! We're all learning together and I love the additions!Be Recipe Card

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Creamy Fettuccine Miso Alfredo

February 13, 2014 Kathleen Henry

Chocolates the night before and now alfredo? Oh dear. Whoever said that being vegan can't be rich, delicious, and utterly indulging isobviously a dolt. Luckily for my waistline, this alfredo has a super secret ingredient...cauliflower! Okay, maybe it's not so super secret as it's all the rage right now I guess. I've tried a few different cauliflower alfredos but I didn't really enjoy them. Until now!

This one is not to be missed. This lighted up alfredo is salty and sweet from the miso, nutritional yeast gives it a cheesy flavor and cashews lend a thick, luxurious feel. Also, cilantro with creamy alfredo is the best thing ever.

Creamy Fettuccine Miso Alfredo

Serves 6

Pasta:
16 oz. dry fettuccine pasta
Cauliflower:
2 cups cauliflower (250 grams raw), florets only
Sauce:
1/4 cup of pasta water
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp. miso paste
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
1/2 Tbsp. agave nectar
1/4 cup nutritional yeast, large flake
1/4 cup raw cashews
1 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
grating of fresh nutmeg
Garnish:
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped for garnish

Note: If you want a super, duper creamy pasta, use only 8 oz. of pasta.

Bring a large salted pot of water to boil. Add the pasta and cook according to package, until al dente. Drain, but reserve 1/4 cup of water and set aside.

While the pasta is cooking, cut off about 2 cups of cauliflower florets (about 250 grams). Place in a steamer with about 1 inch of water and steam for about 20 minutes or until tender.

Meanwhile add all the sauce ingredients to a blender, but wait to blend.

When the cauliflower is done steaming, add it to the blender as well. If the pasta is still cooking, steal 1/4 cup of the pasta water and add it to the blender. Blend on high until smooth and creamy.

Add the sauce to the cooked pasta and top with chopped cilantro.

Listening to:

[soundcloud url="https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/58375228" params="color=87baa8&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_artwork=true" width="100%" height="166" iframe="true" /]Listening to Recipe Card

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Broccoli Walnut Pesto

January 17, 2014 Kathleen Henry

This creamy pesto, lightened up by using a smaller amount of oil, gets it's zing from lemon juice and miso. Pine nuts, move over because walnuts are taking center stage here. And for real, fresh basil in Alaska in January can be hard to come by. Plus, I'm not a bajillionaire. Broccoli it is!

“Oh my god, this is soooo so good!” ”Great! I’m glad you like it. It’s mostly broccoli and walnuts, so I was kind of worried that you wouldn’t.””Geeeeezzze, don’t tell me that!”

— Todd

Who says pesto can't be cheap, lower in calories, and seriously delicious...all while still being vegan? I say that it can and it shall be.

Broccoli Walnut Pesto - Produce On Parade - This creamy pesto, lightened up by using a smaller amount of oil, gets it's zing from lemon juice and miso. Pine nuts, move over because walnuts are taking center stage here. And for real, fresh basil in A…

If you have trouble getting your family members (husband included) to eat broccoli, this is your dish. Straight up. When Todd got home from work, I told him we were having pasta for dinner. This is usually pretty exciting because we don't tend to eat it very often.

Then, he walked into the kitchen and saw a giant bowl of broccoli. His face melted from delight to what can best be described as that of a kid who tore open a present on Christmas morning only to find a crocheted tie from Aunt Gladys. Disappointed and a bit bamboozled.

He self-proclaims that he's "not-big-on-broccoli". That it's not really his thing. Well, four servings later, one for me and three for Todd...I ended up surrendering a big bowl of the pesto pasta to Todd for his lunch. I brought a PB&J to work. Best wife ever? Dang, now I really want some of that pesto!

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Broccoli Walnut Pesto

By Katie Henry - Produce On Parade

This creamy pesto, lightened up by using a smaller amount of oil, gets it's zing from lemon juice and miso. Pine nuts, move over because walnuts are taking center stage here. And for real, fresh basil in Alaska in January can be hard to come by. Plus, I'm not a bajillionaire. Broccoli it is!

Ingredients

1 large head of broccoli, florets only
16 oz. of dry pasta
1/3 cup walnuts
2 large garlic cloves
1 small handful of fresh basil (optional)
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. walnut oil (olive oil will work, too)
1 Tbsp. miso paste
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

Instructions

In a large pot of water, boil the broccoli florets for 3 minutes until bright green. Remove with a slotted spoon (keeping the water in the pot) and rinse under cold water; set aside.

Add the dry pasta to the boiling water and cook according to package. Strain once cooked but reserve about 1/2 cup of the pasta. Return the noodles to pot and set aside.

While the pasta cooks, in a food processor combine the walnuts through the vinegar and process until it's reached a fine consistency. There will be a lot of scraping down the sides of the bowl, but it's a small price to pay. Add the florets and process until very smooth and creamy.

Stir the pesto sauce and some reserved water into the pot of cooked noodles until it’s reached a desired consistency. Salt to taste.

Serve hot with some crushed walnuts on top, if you like!

10 minutes

00:15

00:25

6 servings