CREAMY VEGAN PASTA WITH CRUNCHY KALE
Serves 4
INGREDIENTS
250gm vegan fettuccine or linguine (any pasta will do, but I like long noodle types for this dish)
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup semi-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
1 cup vege stock
¾ cup plant based cream (you can find this in most supermarkets now in the cream section Nakula brand is great)
¼ cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
¼ tsp good quality salt
Fresh pepper to serve
Zest of one lemon and wedges of lemon for serving
Crunchy Kale
1 whole bunch of kale, stripped off its stem and roughly torn
¼ cup of walnuts roughly chopped
2-3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp good quality salt
METHOD
Preheat oven to 150 degrees.
Pop some baking paper on a baking tray and cover with kale.
Pour over the oil and salt then massage into the kale really well.
Put in the oven for 20-30min, turning every 10 min. Add walnuts for the last 10mins cooking. Remove when it’s nice and crunchy. Remember it will get a little crunchy as it cools down as well. Set aside.
Fill a large pot of water, season with salt and oil on the stove and start to bring that to the boil. Move onto your sauce while you wait. Make sure you put the lid on to speed up the process.
In a medium fry pan heat oil and throw in your garlic. Now add in your stock and cream, bringing to a boil and then reducing down to a simmer.
You want to reduce this liquid down to a thin but creamy sauce. This will take at least 10min of simmering without a lid. Please watch it as it can reduce quite quickly.
Meanwhile, your water should be coming up to a rolling boil. Add your pasta and cook until al dente. Once cooked, drain your pasta and reserve some pasta liquid
Coming back to your creamy sauce, if it’s at a creamy thin consistency you can add your semi-dried tomatoes and salt. Turn the heat to high and add in your cooked pasta. Toss through, coating the pasta in the cream sauce. Add lemon zest.
Serve as a big beautiful bowl for the table with the crunchy sides. If you’re serving individual portions then fill up a bowl and top with a generous helping of crunchy kale, roasted walnuts and wedges of lemon.
