Roasted Red Pepper Pasta with Cashews and Herbs
Ingredients
- 4 red peppers
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 50g / 1.7oz cashews
- 400g / 14.1oz spaghetti or any other pasta
- 250ml (1 cup) almond milk
- 1 tbsp mixed dried herbs (thyme, parsley, oregano, sage, basil)
- 50g / 1.7oz sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- salt and pepper
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 230°C / 446°F fan-assisted.
Meanwhile transfer the cashews to a bowl and cover in hot water straight from a kettle. Leave to one side to soak.
When the oven is hot enough, add the red peppers to a roasting tray and roast for 15 minutes.
Slice the onion into quarters, leaving the skins on. Remove the tray from the oven. Add the quartered onions and garlic cloves to the tray with the peppers, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes.
Meanwhile cook the pasta in boiling salted water as per packet instructions, then drain and rinse under cold water, but make sure you reserve the pasta water for later!
Leave the roasted veggies to cool for 5-10 minutes. Then carefully peel the skin off the red peppers (this removes the bitter flavour), remove the stalks and scrape out any of the seeds.
Transfer the roasted red peppers to a blender along with the onion and garlic (peeling and discarding the skins of the onion and garlic as you go). Next drain the cashews and add them to the blender, along with the almond milk, 250ml (1 cup) of the pasta water you reserved earlier, mixed herbs, sun-dried tomatoes (drain as much oil as possible), balsamic vinegar, nutritional yeast, and very generous pinches of salt and pepper. Blend everything until the sauce reaches a lovely smooth consistency, which can take a minute or so. Give the sauce a taste and add more seasoning if necessary.
Pour the sauce into a large saucepan on a low-medium heat. Gently heat the sauce until it begins to bubble, then add the spaghetti and heat it through for a minute or two.
