Creamy, grilled red pepper sauce, pasta and zucchini Ⓥ

April 18, 2016 by Ambika Yoga 4 Comments

Lately I’ve been experimenting making creamy pasta sauces out of vegetables. It’s so delicious. These creations are colourful, healthy and a lot less fatty than when using plant based cream as the main ingredients for the sauce. In this version there’s still some cream, but you can leave it out or put less. You can also replace it with a handful (soaked, ground) nuts or seeds.

Ingredients (4P)

• 3 red peppers
• 100 ml soy (or other plant based) cream
• 2 medium zucchini*
• 1 garlic clove (or more/ or asafoetida)
• 350-400g penne rigate
• 1 bunch of green asparagus
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C.
2. Wash, deseed and slice the red peppers.
3. Wash and slightly trim the asparagus.
4. Place the asparagus in an oven tray, sprinkle with salt, pepper and olive oil and place in the oven for about 20 minutes, until cooked but still slightly crunchy. Turn the vegetables around after 10 minutes.
5. Heat some olive oil in a frying pan, skillet or wok and add the red peppers. Add salt & pepper and leave on medium heat for about 5-7 minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Once perfectly softened take the red peppers out of the pan and leave to cool for a few minutes.
7. Wash and slice the zucchini then cut in quarters.
8. Heat a dash of olive oil in the same pan and stir fry the zucchini, after 3 minutes, add the minced garlic, season with salt and pepper. Continue to stir fry until the zucchini are tender crisp and slightly browned. Turn of heat.
9. Boil water for the pasta. Boil the pasta according to the indications (add salt).
10. Once the red peppers are less hot, blend with a handheld blender or high speed blender until creamy. 
11. Add the plant based cream and blend until mixed completely.
12. Cook the pasta al dente, drain, rinse with cold water and add to the zucchini. Turn the stove on on medium heat and add the red pepper sauce. Warm up, tossing frequently.
13. Serve the creamy pasta with a few grilled asparagus.
14. Season with salt & black pepper.

This recipe doesn’t contain much protein. There’s protein in the soy cream and some in the vegetables. If you need more protein in this meal, I’d recommend eating a starter with a source of pulses (soup with pulses, hummus or seasoned grilled pulses for instance).

* You can replace the zucchini with mushrooms or other vegetables you may prefer or that are in season.

Om shanti -ॐ शान्ति