Alfredo

Take a delicious pasta favourite recipe and make it healthy. Tangy mushrooms in a creamy vegan sauce tossed with soft pasta. Digging into this bowl is like digging into a bowl of comfort. Such a creamy and rich sauce but still filled with nutrients and so much protein!

What’s special about this dish?

Healthy, creamy pasta. Usually a creamy pasta sauce is either made with lots of cheese and butter or with cream or all together. Not very nutritious but loaded with saturated fats. But is it possible to make such a sauce in a healthy way? Yes it is!

It is very common to make it with soaked cashews. I need to say that I really like this but tbh only soaked cashews tastes very intense. But they do make the sauce really creamy and nutrient dense. In order for this sauce to still be creamy but not too intense, we are using a mix of soaked cashew nuts, butter beans and nutritional yeast.

What’s nutritional yeast:

Nutritional yeast is a very popular cheese alternative for vegans or people who do not consume dairy. It is basically the same as yeast, it just is dehydrated and has a cheesy – like flavour. You can buy this in the form of little flakes. In German it is Hefeflocken.

Is this dish healthy?

It definitely is very nutrient – dense. Why? We have wholegrain pasta as a base. They provide lots of complex carbohydrates and fibre to give you energy and keep you full for longer.

Then we have the mushrooms, which are high in vitamins and fibre like any vegetable. And the sauce: it is made out of butter beans, great source of protein, fibre (lots of that!) and vitamins, cashew nuts, many unsaturated fats and protein, plant based milk to thin everything out. Besides we have nutritional yeast, which also is high in vitamins and antioxidants. That already is pretty much it, so you can see – a very balanced meal with carbs, protein, fibre and fats.

Can wholegrain pasta be tasty?

Oh, yes! Definitely! I totally agree that whole grain pasta can be very boring or not delicious. But there are various things you can do to change this. It starts with the pasta you are buying. I LOVE the one I am using, and have only been buying this ever since I tried this. This really is not sponsored but I am just truly amazed by their quality and taste. I always buy the organic one form Pastafani that is produced in Austria from Austrian ingredients. You can really taste the difference to conventional whole grain Pasta. If you want to try it, you can safe 10% with UNEPETITE10 !

How to make this dish:

Really really simple. First boil the pasta according to package instructions. In the meantime fry the mushrooms with the onions. In the meantime we blend everything for the sauce up. Once the pasta is done cooking, we preserve some pasta water, drain it and then mix it with the mushrooms, the sauce and the water. That’s as easy as it gets!

When, how, meal prep?

You can make this anytime because it literally takes 20 minutes to make max. So it is a great quick lunch or dinner, easy to make and super tasty. It also is very family friendly, since everyone loves pasta and if desired, you can add in some chicken for example. It does work for meal prep, just be sure to know that the sauce won’t be as creamy anymore.

I really enjoy this pasta and hope that you will enjoy it too!
Have lots of cozy nights and fun cooking,
Happy cooking,
Enjoy,
Katie // Une Petite Cuisinière