After being asked where I get my protein, I’m usually asked where vegans get their calcium. From beans and greens, of course! This recipe fits my at-least-4-colors at every meal rule (green kale, brown mushrooms, white shallots, red sun-dried tomatoes, and black olives), and it also follows Dr Fuhrman’s G-BOMBS plan (greens, beans, onions, mushrooms—berries and seeds will have to wait for another meal). I didn’t make it with any plan in mind though—I just knew the combination would taste good! Contributed by Dianne Wenz, from VeggieGirl. Photos by Hannah Kaminsky.
Serves: 4 to 6
- 12 ounces pasta (I used Trader Joe’s gluten-free penne)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 shallot, diced
- 2 cups button or baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tsp sea salt, divided
- ½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, cut into thin strips
- 1 ½ cup cooked white beans such as cannellini or navy beans
- 1 bunch kale, chopped
- 1 cup raw cashews, soaked for 2 hours, drained and rinsed
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 ½ cups vegetable broth or water
- ¼ cup kalamata olives, chopped, optional
- Cook pasta according to directions. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat oil in large pan over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook for about 5 minutes, until they begin to caramelize.
- Add mushrooms to the pan along with half of the salt and continue cooking for about 10 minutes, until the mushrooms are fragrant and release their liquid.
- Add the sun-dried tomatoes, beans, and kale to the pan and cook until the kale is wilted and slightly tender, about 3 minutes.
- While the vegetables are cooking, mix the cashews, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, broth or water and remaining salt together in a blender. Blend until smooth and creamy.
- Stir the pasta, vegetables and beans and cashew cream together. Divide among plates and top with the chopped olives, if using.
- Here are more hearty vegan pasta recipes.
- Find more of VegKitchen’s Vegan Dinner Recipes and Pasta Entrées.
9 Comments
Jason
May 2, 2013 at 10:44 pmis this dish supposed to be cold?
Nava
May 2, 2013 at 11:26 pmIt can be served warm or at room temperature.
melanie
May 13, 2013 at 4:22 amWow, just had to comment on this dish which I don’t normally do. I thought it was fantastic. I substituted kale with some spinach / baby spinach and also substituted the nutritional yeast with tofutti cream cheese as I am not a fan of nutritional yeast and I was really happy with the result. I had not yet found a good creamy pasta sauce since becoming vegan but I think I will definitely be making this again!
Jenna
June 10, 2013 at 4:25 pmI am sitting here eating this dish, (lunch is my biggest meal of the day) and I can not HOORAY!!!! enough how wonderful this tastes. I added a dash of crushed red pepper and used whole wheat penne pasta.
It is incredible! THANK YOU!
Susan
December 30, 2013 at 8:42 pmDo you use ALL the sauce/cream? Mine came out pretty thin but delicious. But it seems like way too much sauce for the dish. Just curious. Thanks
Susan
December 30, 2013 at 9:02 pmomg, this is so delicious., I didn’t use all of the sauce. just scrumptious!
Basundhara
December 31, 2013 at 4:45 amWOW, VERY NICE………………………
Debbie
January 6, 2014 at 9:50 pmThis was so delicious! A perfect comfort food.
Christene
December 16, 2015 at 8:28 pmSurprisingly delicious! The sauce was flavoursome but thin so I thickened it with some cornflour. Didn’t have nutritional yeast but it still came out a winner, even my partner commented how yummy it was. Thank you!