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 this new installment of Simply Pasta, she shares her exquisite recipe for Vegan Brown Butter Walnut and Tarragon Pasta.
Vegan Brown Butter Walnut and Tarragon Farfalle
How This Recipe Accidentally Came About
When I first dreamt up this pasta, the intention was to create it with sage. Let me set the stage. It’s a rainy, blustery Sunday evening in Toronto. The mister is on the couch chatting with his son over FaceTime and I am prepping away. The rain is intense but we are cozy and dry, a perfect night for a pasta feed.
I go upstairs to my terrace to pick some sage leaves and that’s when I realize they are past all hope and not useable for my recipe. I head back down the stairs and lament to the mister our sage is dead. He valiantly responds with “I can go to the store.” He takes off with his son still on FaceTime and trudges to our local grocery store. Upon his return, I am sautéing brown butter and walnuts. He is still on said FaceTime but drops what he thinks is sage on the counter. I say THANK YOU and he disappears to finish his conversation. I take one look at the herbs and say THAT’S NOT SAGE, it’s TARRAGON! And this is how this insanely tasty pasta was born.
A Word on Tarragon
Tarragon is an herb I don’t cook with often. It has a slightly liquorice-like flavour and is found a lot in French cooking. It is usually accompanied with white wine, butter, cream and quite often chicken or mussels. Well, I am very pleased to announce it is also gorgeous with vegan butter and walnuts, so here we go….
What You’ll Need
- Farfalle pasta (bowtie)
- Vegan butter
- Walnuts
- Tarragon
- Olive oil
- Chili flakes
- Red onion
- Garlic
- Yellow chanterelles
- Miso
- Lemon
- Pasta water
- Baby spinach
- Vegan Parmesan
- Sea salt & cracked pepper
How to Make This Vegan Brown Butter Pasta
Step one: cook the pasta
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Cook pasta till al Dante. Reserve 1 cup pasta water before draining.
Step two: cook the walnuts and sauté the tarragon
Heat two tablespoons of vegan butter into a pan over medium high heat. Swirl the pan continuously until the butter starts to brown slightly. Add in the walnuts and a pinch of salt. Cook the walnuts until you can start to smell them and then transfer to a bowl. Add one tablespoon of olive oil to the same pan and add in the sprigs of tarragon. Sauté until the leaves start to crispy up. It won’t take longer that a minute. Set aside.
Step three: add the chanterelles and garlic
Add two tablespoons of olive oil into same pan with chili flakes and onion. Sauté until the onion is translucent. Add in chanterelles and garlic. Add a splash of pasta water if chanterelles become too dry. Season with salt and pepper.
Step four: make the lemon miso paste
While the onion, garlic and mushrooms are cooking, make the lemon miso paste. Add miso and lemon juice into a small bowl and whisk until a paste forms.
Step five: bring it all together
Drain the pasta (don’t forget to reserve the water), add it to the pan alongside the miso lemon. Toss to combine. Add the chopped tarragon, buttery walnuts, baby spinach, a splash of pasta water, a good helping of vegan parmesan and toss to combine. Cook until spinach is wilted, taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
Step six: serve the Tarragon Farfalle and enjoy!
Serve with the crispy tarragon, more vegan Parmesan and chili flakes if desired.
Vegan Brown Butter Walnut and Tarragon Farfalle – Recipe Card
Vegan Brown Butter Walnut and Tarragon Farfalle
Ingredients
- 340 grams/12oz farfalle pasta - bowtie
- 1/4 cup vegan butter
- 3/4 cup walnuts roughly chopped
- 4 sprigs tarragon + 2tbsp chopped
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Pinch chili flakes
- 1/2 red onion small dice
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 3 cups yellow chanterelles
- 2 tbsp miso
- 1 medium lemon juiced
- 1/2 cup pasta water
- Handful baby spinach
- Vegan Parmesan - I measure with my heart
- Sea salt & cracked pepper
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt generously. Cook pasta till al Dante. Reserve 1 cup pasta water before draining.
- Heat 2 tbsp vegan butter into a pan over medium high heat. Swirl the pan continuously until butter starts to brown slightly. Add in walnuts and a pinch of salt. Cook walnuts until you can start to smell them and then transfer to a bowl. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to the same pan and add in sprigs of tarragon. Saute until the leaves start to crispy up. Won’t take longer that a minute. Set aside.
- Add 2 tbsp olive oil into same pan with chili flakes and onion. Saute until onion is translucent. Add in chanterelles and garlic. Add a splash of pasta water if chanterelles become too dry. Season with salt and pepper.
- While onion, garlic and mushrooms are cooking make the lemon miso paste. Add miso and lemon juice into a small bowl and whisk until a paste forms.
- Drain pasta (don’t forget to reserve the water), add pasta and miso lemon to pan and toss to combine. Add chopped tarragon, buttery walnuts, baby spinach, a splash of pasta water, a good helping of vegan parmesan and toss to combine. Cook until spinach is wilted, taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly.
- Serve with crispy tarragon, more vegan Parmesan and chili flakes if desired.
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Recipe, text, and photography by Teri-Ann Carty.
