A rich alfredo sauce you’ll swear has eggs or dairy…but it doesn’t…
Sauce Ingredients:
1 lb tofu (silken (I like Nasoya) is best but even firm is okay–it must be completely bland tasting)
1 cup raw cashews (unsalted–I store them in the freezer and use them without defrosting)
1/2-2/3 cup lemon juice (fresh or in bottle)
Fresh basil leaves (optional–use any amount from 2 leaves to 1 cup, depending on the taste and color you are looking for)
1-3 garlic cloves (to taste–don’t use powder)
Salt to taste (I find it needs at least a little)
Water (use as much as you need to get the right consistency; if you use firm tofu, you will need more water)
Blend all ingredients (you need a good blender or food processor) until very smooth. The sauce should be ever so slightly more watery than you want the finished product to be. This is a matter of taste, but try for the consistency of dairy alfredo sauce. Put the sauce into a pot. Heat on low heat until warm enough to serve. Do not cook.
Serve over noodles of your choice–A good lowcarb choice is Nutrition Kitchen’s organic soy angelhair pasta. For non-lowcarbers (who eat gluten), a good choice is fresh fettucini pasta (warning: supermarket versions contain eggs) but regular spaghetti, among others, works well too. I usually serve it with sauteed veggies as below. You can also eat it just with the veggies, or use it cold as a spread.
Veggie ingredients:
Slices of veggies of your choice–I recommend carrots, broccoli, radishes, string beans, spinach, etc (not all at once, vary color and texture). I do not recommend tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, onions (well, maybe), ginger, but you can do whatever you want.
Olive oil (or canola or anything bland)
Pine nuts (optional but very good)
A little white wine cooked in can be good if you’re in the mood for the flavor it gives Saute veggies in oil until tender. Add pine nuts. Serve with pasta and sauce.
See? Easy. The hardest part is cleaning the blender. Made with veggies, this recipe should serve 2 hungry people with some leftovers. If you add salad, bread, dessert, etc, you might be able to feed four average eaters. The whole thing (cooking 3 things at the same time) should take about 30-45 minutes to make (if you’re an experienced cook–add 15-30 minutes if you’re not).
An earlier version of this recipe was posted to rec.food.veg February 11, 1991
and posted to my lowcarb website February 28, 1999
Other listings: OmPlace Altwire recipe of the week (11/4/2003)
9 responses so far ↓
1 What recipes or other posts do you want to see here next? | Norwitz Notions // Jan 26, 2008 at 6:08 pm
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2 paige // Oct 11, 2008 at 1:59 pm
i found this too lemony and bland
3 admin // Oct 11, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Paige: it’s really important in this recipe to get the salt right. If there is too little, it will be bland and all you’ll taste is lemon. I like this best with fresh basil leaves blended in to make a green sauce. You can leave them out, or you can leave the garlic out, but you need something to punch it up. -Cyndi
4 Nicci // Dec 31, 2008 at 4:17 am
Just wondered if you knew how many g carbs and protein in the whole receipe if you were to do the basic recepie with the soy angelhair noodles? x
5 admin // Dec 31, 2008 at 7:32 am
I haven’t done the calculations yet but will post them when I do. Though if anyone else wants to, I’m glad to post the results.
Believe it or not, this is my most popular recipe, and it’s the only one without pictures or good step by step directions. On my to-do list is making it again from scratch, with a camera and careful notes. At that point, I’ll go ahead and calculate the carbs, etc.
The sauce itself is pretty lowcarb though the cashews add a few. You can make it with other nuts but when I’ve tried I haven’t gotten the texture right.
Cyndi
6 bill beck // Mar 6, 2009 at 6:25 am
Hi: Just getting started in changing our eating plan. Trying to follow the blood type plan;. I am A; wife is AB. u mentioned soy pasta. Is there such a thing as 100% soy pasta – or does it have some wheat in it? Today we are going to attemptt bread making w/o any wheat. TX – we need all the help we can get. Bill
7 admin // Mar 6, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Hi Bill, you’re right that most “soy pasta” is actually wheat pasta with some soy in it. The one I use, Nutrition Kitchen, is really 100% organic soy. Gluten-free. They have angel hair style only and it comes in 3 colors: yellow, green, and black. The colors are from the soybean used, not anything added. They taste pretty much the same.
-Cyndi
8 ALKA // Apr 3, 2010 at 6:56 pm
Nutritional Kitchen has gone out of business. Where can I get this pasta. I am from NJ. I am Insulin Resistant and have to eat low carb, moderate protein, moderate fat diet. I am vegatarian but eat eggs. Should ideally eat 50 -60 grams of carbs in a day.
9 admin // Apr 3, 2010 at 9:16 pm
ALKA: I know, I have been pretty upset about it too. It was a unique product that I depended on. I eat lowcarb like you and don’t eat meat.
Just a couple weeks ago I found a new product. Explore Asian. http://www.opal-export.com/ They have 3 organic pastas (fettuchini/angel hair style): black bean, mung bean, and soybean. The soy one is yellow and lowcarb.
I will try to blog about it when I get more information. I’ve had the soy and black bean so far and they’re good. The soy is very similar to Nutrition Kitchen’s. I found them in a market in Los Angeles last month.
-Cyndi
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