This recipe was sponsored by Pacific Foods. If I could eat pasta 5 nights a week I would. Ok, let’s be honest. When dinner is this easy, this quick, this tasty, well, sometimes I do! This sun dried tomato cream sauce comes together in the time it takes for water to boil and pasta to cook. And you only need to do the teensiest bit of chopping and prep! It’s that simple. Trust me! In almost no time, a richly-flavored velvety-sauced bowl of noodles is before you. Serve it alongside a simple salad, or some steamed/roasted/flash fried veggies and you have yourself a perfect meal! My favorite pasta shape to pair this sauce with is bowtie (also known as farfalle). I find this shape irresistible with sun dried tomatoes for whatever reason! But it’s totally fine to use another shape if you prefer.
The Cream Sauce:
One of my favorite things about this recipe is how easy the sauce is and yet how fancy it tastes! It builds off of a roux, which is a flour + fat mixture which adds flavor and then works to thicken the sauce to a luscious texture. Since this is a vegan pasta, I use vegan butter to make my roux. It gives it such a nice flavor! If you prefer, you could use extra virgin olive oil. Then I use all purpose flour to toast up. When it cooks in the vegan butter (or olive oil) it toasts slightly which lends the sauce a deeper flavor. This roux plus Pacific Foods Unsweetened Original Hemp Plant-Based Beverage make up the cream sauce, but we’ve gotta flavor it up!
The seasoning:
To first build the flavor, I sauté finely diced onion into the vegan butter until it softens. This adds some texture to the sauce while enhancing it with the natural sweetness of onion. Next I go heavy handed on the garlic. It’s pasta after all! It demands liberal garlic use! But as always when it comes to garlic I give a range for the amount to use, because only you know how much garlic you like in your food and should adjust accordingly. Plus garlic cloves vary SO much in size! For a bit of heat I toss in some crushed red pepper. A pinch adds some great flavor, but if you want it spicier add more! Then comes paprika for its peppery goodness and oregano because what is pasta without oregano! I use dried oregano in this recipe, but also happen to have some fresh growing in my garden right now so added some on as garnish at the end. Feel free to do the same! Now you’re going to need to add salt because it makes your pasta taste good. And don’t forget to salt that pasta water as well! To amp up the savory, cheesy flavor, I toss in some nutritional yeast. If you prefer you can use vegan parmesan instead, or add both nutritional yeast and vegan parm! Last but not least, we’ve got to include the sun dried tomato (it’s in the name you guys)! I like the olive oil packed kind in this recipe best, the added richness of the oil soaked tomatoes complements the pasta so well. However, if you prefer to use the dry packed kind, then rehydrate the sun dried tomatoes in hot water to soften them before using. That’s it! This pasta is seriously so easy. I’ve even been cooking it for lunch! It’s so quick that I can make it and eat it on my lunch break! Sure I am my own boss and can give myself a long lunch, but hey with this recipe I don’t even need extra time.
To make this pasta gluten free:
Because I use hemp beverage in this recipe, it isn’t as simple as switching out the all purpose flour for a gluten free blend and using gluten free noodles. Yes, do both of those things if you want a gluten free recipe, but you also will need to switch the plant beverage. This makes me sad for you because I am obsessed with their Hemp Beverage (side note: really into the Unsweetened Vanilla Hemp Beverage in my tea)! But luckily you can just switch out the Unsweetened Original Hemp Beverage for Pacific Foods Unsweetened Original Cashew Beverage or Unsweetened Original Soy Beverage. Both of these are mild tasting and will go nicely in the sauce. No matter what, I know you’ll enjoy it! Just don’t use sweetened plant beverage because you don’t want a sweet pasta sauce. If you make this vegan sun dried tomato cream pasta, leave a comment below and rate the recipe on the recipe card. And please share your photos with me on Instagram, tag @thecuriouschickpea and #thecuriouschickpea. I love seeing your recreations!
Pacific Foods Hemp Original Unsweetened Plant-Based Beverage, 32oz, 12-pack Keto Friendly
