So I had two fat red peppers just waiting to be roasted and fancied a pasta with red-pepper sauce for dinner. I’ve tried this one (from FoRealsLife.com) in the past, and it was quite good. There’s a similar one in the Thug Kitchen cookbook (Silky Red Bell Pepper Pasta), but both use silken tofu as the base, which I don’t usually mind, but the only tofu we have on hand contains a preservative that gives me a weird reaction (I can’t breathe).

Anyway, I went on the hunt for a vegan roasted red-pepper sauce. I found what looks like a delicious recipe on Yummly–Roasted Red Pepper Mac and Cheese–that uses soaked cashews as the base. I was all set to go….until I noticed the calorie count: EIGHT-HUNDRED-AND-SIXTY CALORIES PER SERVING. Jeez, I may as well use butter as the base.

Anyway, I eventually located this one–Vegan Roasted Red Pepper Pasta–from Minimalist Baker. I made a few adjustments, and it tastes really yummy–indeed, the best roasted red pepper sauce we’ve ever made! Plus, no tofu…and no nuts! Well, that’s not entirely true since the recipe calls for almond milk.

Anyway, you can find the original recipe in the above link, and here is the one with my adjustments…

Heat oil and saute onion and garlic until golden:

• 2-3 Tbsp olive oil
• 1 yellow or white onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

Once golden, combine with below ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth:

• 2 roasted, skinned red bell peppers
• 1 tsp sea salt
• ground black pepper
• 1.5 cups Unsweetened Original Almond Breeze Almond Milk
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1.5 Tbsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1Tbsp vinegar
• 2 Tbsp Better than Bouillon NO beef base

Pour the blended ingredients into a saucepan and heat until thickened, stirring continuously.

Toss with brown rice pasta and a big handful of fresh baby spinach.

Oh, and I lied about the nuts because I also made this rather amazing vegan parmesan (also from Minimalist Baker), which uses four ingredients, one of which is, you guessed it, CASHEWS. If you recall, I tried a vegan parmesan a few months ago, but the base was almonds and by the time all the almonds were grainy enough, half of the mixture had turned into almond butter. I think the cashews work better because they’re a softer nut and crush up quickly. Anyway, here’ a picture of the finished product:

 
 

And here’s a picture of the whole meal!

Jamie’s version with garlic bread and grated reggiano cheese (oh, and the obligatory Buster photobomb):

And here’s mine with the vegan parmesan:

The ONLY thing that would have improved this great recipe is a handful of fresh basil…of which I have none!