Creamy Mushroom Pasta [vegan]

I have had a lot of failures in cooking vegan pasta. (Vegan) Butter and margarine are emulsifiers, but because I choose not cook with highly processed ingredients like such, my pasta sauces have often times come out too runny. Sometimes, even with thickening agents like flour and cornstarch, the sauce still misses the rich, creamy factor. Thus, I was determined to experiment with something new this time round. Instead of adding sauce to the cooked pasta, I boiled the pasta in the vegetable stock and non-diary milk, and boy did it make world of a difference. 

This 20-minute mushroom pasta is seriously rich and creamy. It is a recipe that I will certainly make again for my vegan and dairy-free friends. 

Ingredients

• 8 oz pasta of choice (I used Trader Joe’s gluten-free Organic Brown Rice & Quinoa Fusilli Pasta)

• 1 cup mushrooms, sliced (I used button mushrooms, but I recommend an assortment of mushrooms)

• 1/2 cup fresh spinach 

• 2 garlic cloves, minced

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock 

• 1 1/4 non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)

• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast 

• 1 tsp dried herbs (I used a mixture of rosemary, thyme, and oregano)

• salt and pepper to taste 

Instructions

1. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.

2. Add mushrooms and garlic. Sauté for 5 minutes, or until mushrooms are tender.

3. Add spinach and sauté for 3 minutes, or until it wilts.

4. Add vegetable broth, non-dairy milk (reserving a quarter cup), pasta, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper to the pan. Cover and bring it to a boil.

5. Remove lid and reduce to medium-low heat. Let simmer for 8-10 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.

6. Remove pan from heat, and add the reserved quarter cup of milk and stir it through the pasta.

7. Enjoy!

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