Monday, October 5, 2009

Linguine con spinaci


Raw pasta doesn't always have to be made of zucchini, and a raw non-dairy pasta sauce does not necessarily need to be a tomato marinara. The sauce can also be creamy and rich without nuts. This is how:

Butternut squash & yam linguine
50:50 yam and butternut squash, peeled
olive oil, thyme, salt, pepper, pinch of nutmeg

Spiralize the veggies to make thin linguine "pasta". Drizzle on olive oil, season and taste if you need to add more spices. I dehydrated these for an hour to soften them up nicely and allow them to marinate, but I thought they were tasty even before that.

Hemp spinach pesto sauce
a little less than ½ C hemp seeds, finely ground (about 1 dl)
roughly 3/4 C water
3 ounces of frozen spinach (more if using fresh)
1,5 tbsp nutritional yeast (optional for cheesier flavor)
small clove garlic
Himalayan salt, freshly ground black pepper
handful of fresh basil
½ ripe avocado
lemon juice, dash honey
(pine nuts)

If you can't find already ground hemp seeds, try to grind them yourself. The unhulled seeds have a thick and hard shell that most blenders (unless you're lucky and own a VitaMix) can't grind into a powder. I know mine can't, so I buy the powder ready. Hulled hemp seeds would lend to a different, possibly better flavor and texture, but are way too expensive here. First make hemp cream: blend with high speed a 1:1 ratio of hemp seeds and water. Filter through a nutmilk bag or cheesecloth if you prefer a smoother texture. Add avocado, spinach and other ingredients. Taste and add water if sauce is too thick.

Although the picture shows the sauce on top the pasta, we both mixed them up and it was way tastier that way. I did not bother to strain the hemp cream, because we enjoy the flavor of hemp seeds. If they are new to you or you don't like to taste them use hulled seeds or filter the cream.
The sauce can be warmed up quickly if desired.

2 comments:

Jael said...

Raw pasta can really be yummy, usually I use zucchini but your posting made me want to try to use butternut squash,which we have here in every shop.

Aletheia said...

The squash is absolutely delish, and if you buy one long enough you really can make long linguine/spaghetti. As you can see, the gadget your brother sold me works wonders :) It is amazing what a big difference texture makes, because I don't think raw pasta ever tasted this good before we got the shape right.