Vegfest Chefs, with Cashew Alfredo Recipe
Look for cutting edge chefs at this year’s Vegfest. This year you’ll find new chefs such as Beverly Lynn Bennett author of Spiralize and Chia: Using this Ancient Superfood; Michelle Schwegmann, author of Eat Like You Give A Damn! and Chef Kanya Habsa of Sukho Thai restaurant, along with returning favorites such as our expert Indian chef Archana Verma, and cookbook author Alan Roettinger. See the complete line-up of chefs at Vegfest this year.
Beverly kindly shared a recipe from her cookbook, Spiralize: Transform vegetables and fruits from ordinary to extraordinary, with us. She will be presenting other recipes from this cookbook and her Chia cookbook at Vegfest on April 9 & 10.
Noodles with Cashew Alfredo
Soaked cashews are used in this recipe to create a rich, creamy, vegan version of Alfredo sauce, perfect for coating spiralized vegetable noodles.
1 cup raw cashew pieces, soaked for 1 hour and drained
1¼ cups water
¼ cup nutritional yeast flakes
Zest and juice of 1 lemon (1 to 1½ tablespoons zest and 3 to 4 tablespoons juice)
2 large cloves garlic
1 teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 large or 4 medium zucchini, yellow squash, or peeled medium sweet potatoes or carrots, or a combination
To make the sauce, put the cashews, water, nutritional yeast, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, pepper, and nutmeg in a blender and process until completely smooth, stopping once to scrape down the blender jar. Transfer to a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking occasionally, until thickened, 3 to 5 minutes. Remove from the heat.
To make the noodles, use a tri-blade spiralizer, vertical spiral slicer, or handheld hourglass spiral slicer to cut the zucchini into thin or thick spaghetti strands. Leave the strands intact, or for easier eating, cut with a knife into 4-inch lengths. Transfer to a large bowl, add the sauce, and toss gently. Serve immediately.
Variation: To serve as a cooked pasta dish, steam, microwave, or boil the zucchini or cook it in a skillet with a little oil until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl, add the sauce, and toss gently. Serve hot. Makes 3 servings.