It's About Time for a Great Dish

I haven't blogged in awhile.  I am going to blame it on the fact that I have hit a real dry spot in the last few weeks in making new dishes that I consider worthy of making again.  I placed a challenge to myself that I would make at least two new recipes per week until I get my collection of plant based recipes up to a level which I felt would be adequate.  Let's just say that absolutely nothing impressive has come out of our kitchen the last few weeks.  I was beginning to get a bit weary about new recipes.


All this changed a couple of nights ago with a recipe I tried.  Surprisingly I got the recipe from the Food Network site.  I had never thought to look on their website for plant based recipes.  They actually had quite a few.  This recipe was not only delicious, it was very quick to make. 

VEGAN LEMON FETTUCINE ALFREDO

12 ounces eggless fettucine

2 cups unsweetened soy or almond milk
4 ounces vegan cream cheese
3 Tbsp blanched sliced almonds
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast, plus more for sprinkling
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ cup loosely packed parsley leaves, chopped

 Bring a large pot of salted water to boil.

In a blender, add the milk, cream cheese, almonds, nutritional yeast, lemon zest, 1 tsp. salt and ¼ tsp
pepper and process until smooth.

Add the fettucine to the boiling water and cook according to package directions.  Strain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water.

Heat the oil and garlic in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring until the garlic just starts to sizzle and softens, about 1-2 minutes.  Add the soy milk mixture and ½ cup of the pasta cooking water.  Bring to a simmer and cook until thick and creamy, about 8 minutes.  Remove from the heat and add the fettucine and parsley and toss to combine.  Thin out with a little more pasta water if needed.

 Sprinkle each serving with some additional nutritional yeast and a few grinds of pepper. 

I just looked up the nutritional information on this recipe.  Each serving, (recipe makes 4 servings), has 520 calories and 15 grams of fat.  I am a little surprised that the fat grams are that high.  I guess we won't be having this every week, but it is definitely worth a splurge.   When I look at the nutritional values from other more traditional recipes for this dish, these numbers actually look much better.