Creamy Casarecce with Fable and roasted eggplant (dairy free)

Casarecce pasta is the perfect shape for this dairy-free yet very creamy recipe

13 Jul, 2020 | Recipes | 2 comments

Preparation Time: 2 hours (mainly soaking time)
Cook time: 40 minutes
Serves: 2

This dish is surprisingly simple to make, but requires a bit of pre-planning, as you’ll need to soak cashews for at least 2 hours.

If it’s available to you, set aside some time to make the pasta too.  The kneading, the rolling, the shaping – it’s all very romantic. And the fruits of your labour will be very rewarding. Pasta making tutorials on Youtube are plentiful and do more justice to the process than we could ever do here.

Ingredients

150-200g fresh casarecce pasta (or 90-100g dried)

125g Fable, pulled apart into smaller pieces

1 small/medium eggplant, cut into 1cm cubes

½ cup cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours

1 clove garlic, minced 

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

Squeeze of lemon juice, about 2 tsp

Salt to taste

Pepper to taste 

Chives, finely chopped

Method

  1. Soak cashews in a bowl of water, set aside for at least 2 hours. 
  2. Place eggplant cubes in a roasting tray with olive oil, salt and pepper in a preheated oven at 180 degrees celsius. Roast for 30 – 40 minutes, until cooked and soft.
  3. Drain soaked cashews and blend in food processor or nutribullet with ½ cup of water until very smooth. It should have a pouring cream like consistency. Empty into a medium size bowl. 
  4. In a medium sized pan, heat oil until hot and fry off roasted eggplant and bits of torn-up Fable until brown and caramelised, about 5-10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside. 
  5. Cook pasta until al dente, reserving about a cup of the pasta water. 
  6. In the bowl with cashew cream, add 100ml of the pasta water, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, a pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon juice. Stir to combine. 
  7. Heat oil in the same pan previously used until hot. Add garlic and allow to colour but not brown (about 30 seconds), add cashew cream mixture and turn down heat to low. Stir continually as the sauce begins to thicken.  Add cooked pasta, Fable and eggplant mix, and gently coat in the sauce. Add extra pasta water if needed to desired consistency.

Serve with a sprinkling of chives and some generous turns of cracked pepper. Mangiare!

2 Comments

  1. Em

    i made this!!! omg soooooooo sososo good! My fam who isnt vegan all LOVEDDD it and said it was one of the best meals theyd ever had!! I made the eggplant ahead of time and it still worked perf. Doubled the recipe too 🙂

    Reply
  2. Rebecca

    Wow i agree, this was amazing!! Really rich and complex flavours

    Reply

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