Simply Pasta is a monthly recipe column in which Best of Vegan contributor Teri-Ann Carty delves into her 20-year experience in fine dining and shares her best practices and recipes for making amazing pasta. In the new installment of Simply Pasta, she shares her recipe for a creamy vegan pesto casarecce – a veganized classic that will make the transition from summer to fall all the more enjoyable.
Happy September folks! Hard to believe that summer is nearly over. As I type this there is still technically 1 week left of summer and I for one will be clinging to it with all my might. How are you doing with the transition? So much change for so many so I do hope you are taking it all inside with deep breaths and extra loving care.
My feed has been inundated with pumpkin recipes and while I adore pumpkin (next month’s recipe WILL be pumpkin related), I am just not ready for it. Instead, I wanted to bring back a classic. Do you ever remember eating a pesto cream sauce? Yes, me too. It used to be all over pasta menus back in the day but has long since been absent. Well, I wanted to bring it back and of course, make it vegan. The result was oh-so-tasty, as I am sure you will attest once you make this recipe. Classics are classic for a reason and they never really go anywhere. It’s up to us to breathe new life into them. This recipe is simple and beyond delicious. Happy cooking!
Ingredients
- SAUCE
- ½ cup cashews - soaked and drained
- ¼ cup + 2 heaping tbsp pesto - divided
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- ½ pasta water
- Sea salt and cracked pepper
- Chili flakes - optional
- PASTA
- 1 bag casarecce pasta - or short noodle of choice
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ¼ onion - sliced
- 1 clove garlic - minced
- 5 asparagus spears - cut into ½-inch pieces
- 2 cups yellow foot chanterelle - sliced
- ½ cup frozen edamame
- ¾ cup coconut bacon
- ½ cup pasta water
- Sea salt and cracked pepper
- Micro radish or microgreens of choice
- Chili flakes - optional
Instructions
- Cook pasta in salted boiling water. Reserve 1 cup of pasta water.
- While pasta is cooking, make the sauce. Add everything BUT the extra 2 tbsp pesto into a high-speed blender, blend on high until sauce is smooth and silky. Scrape down sides as needed.
- Heat a large pan over medium-high heat with olive oil and a pinch of chili flakes. Add onion and saute for 2 minutes. Add garlic, asparagus, and a splash of pasta water. Toss to combine. Add mushrooms and edamame, season with salt and cracked pepper. Lastly, add coconut bacon. Toss again. Once pasta is cooked, add to the pan with sauce and mix thoroughly. Add the last two heaping tbsp of pesto and a couple of splashes of pasta water and toss once again so pesto is thoroughly mixed through and pasta is well coated with cream sauce. Taste for seasoning.
- Transfer to bowls, and add garnishes if using.
Notes
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Recipe, text, and photography by Teri-Ann Carty.
If you loved this creamy vegan pesto casarecce recipe, you might also like…
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