When I first joined the Cooking Light Bloggers’ Connection, used to “renovate” their recipes once a month. I took this lovely fresh pasta dish and made it gluten-free and vegan. We both thought it was bright and zippy, very springlike. This makes a perfect spring dinner for two.
The renovation: At its heart, this recipe was easy to convert to be gluten-free. If you eat dairy products you don’t have to change the original recipe much at all. I would simply use oat flour instead of the all-purpose flour and gluten-free pasta. For this renovation, I decided to use nutritional yeast instead of the flour, as I was trying to replace some of the cheese flavor provided by the parmesan. I used cashews to replace the half-and-half, but you could also use soy creamer or Mimicream. I used low-sodium vegetable broth instead of chicken stock.
Suitable for:
vegan, gluten-free, reduced-sugar diets
Not for:
low-sodium or migraine diets
Could this be migraine-friendly?
This recipe is tricky, as it’s from my days before I was diagnosed and was eating plant-based. Here’s why this recipe isn’t migraine-friendly:
- Cashews
- Lemon—Since all citrus can be a trigger, I recommend testing each type of citrus individually to see if any bother you.
- Nutritional yeast (fermented food)
- Onions
If you have learned that these foods aren’t migraine triggers for you, enjoy!
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 3/4 cup onions (130 g) sweet or Vidalia, chopped
- 4 ounces mushrooms pre-sliced
- 1 tsp fresh thyme chopped
- 1 clove garlic finely minced
- 1 tbsp nutritional yeast (3 g)
- 1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable stock
- 1/4 cup cashews raw (28 g)
- 1/4 cup filtered or spring water
- 3/4 cup peas frozen (130 g)
- 1/2 tsp lemons zested or grated
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1/2 tsp sea salt kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 ounces brown rice pasta penne
- 1 pound asparagus spears diagonally cut into 1
- Put the cashews in a blender with the filtered water and let soak.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil; swirl to coat. Add onion and mushrooms; sauté 5 minutes or until tender.
- Add thyme and garlic; sauté 1 minute.
- Sprinkle mushroom mixture evenly with nutritional yeast; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.
- Blend the cashews into a smooth sauce.
- Stir in broth and cashew cream; cook 2 minutes or until slightly thickened.
- Add peas, lemon zest, lemon juice, salt, and pepper; cook 1 minute or until peas are thoroughly heated.
- Cook pasta in salted water with a tiny splash of olive oil until al dente.
- During the last 3 minutes of cooking, add asparagus to the boiling water.
- Before draining, pull out about a half cup (125 ml) of pasta water and add it to the sauce to keep it from getting too thick.
- Drain the pasta, rinsing quickly with cold water. Toss with a tiny drizzle of olive oil. (This greatly improves the texture of gluten-free pasta.)
- Add pasta mixture to mushroom mixture; toss gently to coat. Top with a small amount of finishing salt and freshly ground black pepper.
Per serving:
- 494 calories
- 15 g fat
- 2 g saturated fat
- 9 g monounsaturated fat
- 3 g polyunsaturated fat
- 0 g trans fat
- 0 g cholesterol
- 638 mg sodium (76 mg sodium with salt omitted)
- 1120 mg potassium
- 77 g carbohydrate
- 13 g fiber
- 12 g sugars
- 19 g protein
- 13 Weight Watchers Points Plus
Required FTC disclosure: I am part of the Cooking Light Bloggers' Connection. I was not paid to write this post.
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There she goes – congratulations…”Cooking Light” is my favorite food magazine.
Yes, I am so excited to get to play with their content and be associated with them in a small way.
I am in awe of your renovations, Stephanie! Congratulations on working with Cooking Light. They are lucky to have you!
Thanks Laura!