Creamy Cashew and Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce
Creamy Cashew and Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce.
Our little family isn’t vegan, but I do have a sister that is. When I stumble across vegan recipes that look delicious, I usually have a read through to get some ideas. Sometimes I’ll send them to her to have a look at. I’ve learnt that cashews are often used to make sauces creamy and the beauty of that is it’s also an easy way to add more healthy fats to a meal. Obviously I had to experiment with this idea for myself. The end result: a beautifully smooth, Creamy Cashew and Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce.
Capsicum!
Norah loves capsicum. Well, raw capsicum. She likes to dip it in Hummus, or have it in wraps. So far she hasn’t really been interested in it when I cook it. Often it’s because it’s part of a stir fry and she doesn’t like the sauce. Her usual response is, “Yuck, it’s dirty, I want fresh capsicum”. I wasn’t sure if she would like the roast capsicum flavour in the pasta sauce, but I thought it was definitely worth a go.
Super Simple.
I liked this idea because it was pretty simple too. I didn’t have to stand around the stove and keep stirring a pot. It only took a couple of minutes to put the cashews in the blender with some water to soak. And to chuck the capsicums in the oven with some extra virgin olive oil, then I was free to give all my attention to the kiddos. *After I had set an alarm on my phone so I didn’t forget about them completely*
About 10 minutes before taking the capsicums out of the oven, I also threw in a couple of garlic cloves, just to amp up the flavour a little. Once the capsicums had been roasting for just over half an hour, the skin peeled off really easily. Just be careful with this step, because obviously coming straight out of the oven, they’re going to be hot.
Once the garlic and capsicums were beautifully roasted and the skins were removed, it was truely as simple as adding them (with the rest of the ingredients) to the blender, with the already soaking cashews.
So Yummy.
The finished result was a lovely orange coloured, creamy pasta sauce and it was so delicious. I cooked up some pasta then and there because I wanted to have some for lunch. The kids had already eaten and weren’t hungry, so their taste test didn’t come for a few more days.
I simply separated the Creamy Cashew and Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce into containers and put them in the freezer. In actual fact, I do that with most of the kids meals. It’s so much easier than cooking for them every night. Sometimes they want dinner early because they haven’t eaten much during the day and this way I have something ready to go. It’s also great for keeping track of Norah’s enzymes. If she hasn’t eaten a great deal, I choose a higher fat dinner, but if she’s had more of an appetite I can choose something lighter so we don’t go over her max dose.
You win some, you lose some.
The first time Norah looked at her bowl full of this Creamy Cashew and Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce, she wouldn’t even try it. I really thought she would be keen, but I guess it was more orange than red. She likes Sun Dried Tomato and Avocado Pesto and Pumpkin and Passata Pasta Sauce, which are all red. Strawberries, apple, capsicums and cherry tomatoes are also on her list of go to foods. All red foods… not orange.
Cole on the other hand, loved it. He didn’t even consider not eating it. He saw pasta and he ate it. Simple haha.
She did taste it.
The second time Norah did give the Creamy Cashew and Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce a go. But she didn’t really like it. Such a shame because it’s yummy and easy to make. I will keep offering it though, because I know it can take a lot of times for kids to get used to a new food.
It does also work well as a dip. I defrosted a portion and added it to their lunch platter one day. Again, Norah didn’t touch it. She said it was because it wasn’t Hummus. Cole dipped his carrot in it a few times, but enjoyed it more as a pasta sauce.
Creamy Cashew and Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce
Creamy Cashew and Roasted Capsicum Pasta Sauce Delicious, vegan and full of healthy fat! Stir it through your favourite pasta for an easy family meal.
Ingredients
- 2 red capsicums
- 2 cloves garlic (peeled)
- 140 g cashews 68.9g of fat
- 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 36.6g of fat
- pinch salt
- pinch pepper
- 1 veg stock pot or cube
- 1 cup boiling water
- 10 basil leaves
Instructions
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Boil the kettle. Place the cashews into the blender and then pour in the cup of boiling water. Leave them to soak.
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Pre heat the oven to 180℃. Cut the capsicums in half and remove the seeds. Lie them skin side up on a lined baking tray and drizzle them with olive oil. Place the capsicums into the preheated oven.
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After 20 minutes add the garlic to the same tray as the capsicum and roast for a further 10 minutes.
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Remove the capsicum and the garlic from the oven and carefully peel the skin off the capsicum (I used tongs).
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Blitz the cashews in the blender until it resembles a smooth paste.
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Add the capsicum and garlic to the cashew paste and blitz until smooth.
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Add the rest of the ingredients and blitz again.
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Stir through your favourite pasta.
Recipe Notes
Total fat: approximately 105.5g
6 serves at approximately 17.5g of fat per serve.
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