Brutally just beautiful.

Pasta with Spinach and Herbed Cream Sauce

This is such a quick and tasty meal that I’ve made it twice in two weeks! The sauce is simple, but the key is the tempeh bacon, garlic and sauteed vegetable mixture that is cooked with the side vegetables. It makes such a great combination with the cream sauce that we topped our pasta with it while we were eating. This is an easy meal to substitute and use whatever vegetables you have on hand. It’s easy to tell from the recipe that I don’t measure much so just keep ingredients in proportion. If you plan on using 3 cups coconut milk, use the higher measurements of the rest of the ingredients and so on. Bon appetit!

Ingredients:

Cream Sauce:
2-3 TBS Earth Balance Butter
2-3 TBS Brown Rice Flour (all-purpose flour works just fine, too)
3 Cloves Chopped Garlic
2-3 Cups Coconut Milk (So Delicious brand works well! :)
10 Leaves Chopped Basil (I used 2 frozen basil cubes)
1-2 cup Nutritional Yeast
1 tsp Hungarian Paprika
1 tsp Thyme
1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
3 Handfuls Spinach Leaves
1/2 Cup Cherry Tomatoes Halved (Optional)
Red Chili Flakes (Optional)

Vegetable Side:
(Broccolini, green beans, greens or whatever vegetable you have on hand that sound good)
Couple Glugs of Olive oil
4 Slices Tempeh Bacon, Roughly Chopped
1/2 White Onion Finely Chopped
1/2 Red Pepper Finely Chopped
3-4 Cloves Garlic Sliced
Couple TBS Slivered Almonds

Cook pasta according to package. I tried brown rice spaghetti once and brown rice penne the second time—both worked well.

Place Earth Balance and chopped garlic in a pot and saute garlic on medium for a minute or two til garlic is fragrant. Add flour and stir with whisk to make roux. Stir roux for half a minute, then slowly add coconut milk, nut. yeast and stir until thick. Brown rice flour takes a little longer than all-purpose to thicken so don’t panic! It could take several minutes. Add basil and spices, continue stirring until the sauce is desired consistency. Add spinach and tomatoes. Salt and pepper liberally. Top cooked pasta with sauce and serve.

If using broccolini or green beans, add a cup of water and dash of salt to a deep saute pan, cover and cook on medium for five minutes. This speeds the process along and helps cook the larger vegetables without burning the garlic or tempeh. After the vegetables have simmered, drain the excess water and add olive oil, salt and pepper, sliced garlic, tempeh, almonds, red pepper and onion. Saute on medium high until the tempeh has browned and garlic is glistening. I added a squeeze of agave during the cooking because I like when my garlic and vegetables caramelize a little, but that’s optional.

Enjoy!