This pasta is tossed in a creamy, dairy-free almond spinach sauce. It’s a meatless meal that is flavorful and filling!
If I had to pick one ingredient that I’m really inspired to work with right now, it would be nuts. But not nuts as a crunchy snack or topping.
Nuts as a soaked and blended ingredient to make things creamy while also adding protein.
A couple years ago, I made this Broccoli Cashew Soup. There have been plenty more experiments.
This time I’m using almonds. I bought a big bag of slivered almonds a while back with every intention to start perfecting my macaron making skills.
That never happened. It’s still on the agenda, but it was getting to the point where I needed to use the almonds and move on with plans to buy fresh when I start playing with pastries again.
So I turned to a sauce that I’ve been using on just about every meal for the past week, including this pasta.
The best part is that these sauces are so easy to make. All you need is a little hands-off time to soak the nuts and a few of your favorite vegetables.
I wanted to use spinach. Instead of blending it in fresh, I sauteed it with yellow onion and garlic first. Then I added some fresh oregano from the herb garden. Next, it all went into the blender with the soaked almonds and a bit of the soaking liquid. Heat it back up with a little salt and pepper and you have an almond spinach sauce that is almost creamy without having any cream in it.
I tossed it with pappardelle because that is currently my favorite pasta. You can substitute any kind of pasta or rice. We even had the sauce over riced cauliflower this week. It works well with so many things.
- 1 cup slivered almonds
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 small yellow onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano
- 5 ounces spinach leaves
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt, or more to taste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 pound pappardelle pasta, cooked
- Shaved parmesan for garnish
- Place the almonds in a bowl and cover with 2 1/2 cups water. Let soak for about 3 hours. Drain, but reserve the soaking water.
- Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high. Add the onion and cook for 5 minutes, until it begins to brown. Stir in the garlic and oregano and cook for 2 more minutes. Finally stir in the spinach and cook 1 minute, until wilted. Remove from the heat.
- Transfer the almonds to a blender. Add the sautéed vegetables from the skillet. Puree on low and then medium, until blended and thick. With the blender on low, pour in 1 1/2 cups of the soaking liquid. Turn to high and puree until smooth. Pour the sauce back into the skillet and turn to medium-low heat.
- Stir in the salt and pepper. Add more to taste, if desired. Add the pasta and toss to coat it in the sauce. Turn off the heat. Serve garnished with parmesan.
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