A healthy & light creamy pasta made with almond milk, cremini mushrooms, greens, lemon, basil and sun dried tomatoes. Vegan option.
Meals like this are the reason I love cooking at home. These are the kinds of dishes that my lactose intolerant self can’t order at restaurants. The amount of butter and cream that go into pastas and risottos… I don’t even want to know.
I worked on this a few different ways. I was going to make an almond version of cashew cream (similar to this one), but I decided I didn’t want to ask you to break out the blender. At least not this time.
The winner was this version where I simmered leeks & mushrooms in almond milk. Such a rich & creamy flavor develops, sans the butter. I did a little bit of pecorino cheese at the end, but it’s so very little that you could easily sub vegan cheese or nutritional yeast (or possibly omit it), without compromise.
creamy leek & almond pasta
- 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup chopped leeks (white and light green parts)
- 1 cup chopped cremini mushrooms
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- ¼ cup white wine
- 1 cup original unsweetened Almond Breeze Almond Milk
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- ¼ cup grated pecorino cheese (vegan: sub nutritional yeast)
- pinches of red pepper flakes (optional)
- salt & pepper
- 8 oz. linguine pasta (reserve some of the pasta water)
- 2 cups chopped dandelion greens (or spinach)
- juice of 1 small lemon + some zest
- ¼ cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
- 2 scallions, chopped
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- handful of chopped fresh basil
- salt & pepper
- In a very small bowl, whisk together the corn starch with a few tablespoons of the almond milk until there are no lumps. Set aside.
- Make your sauce. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil, leeks, mushrooms, garlic, salt & pepper. Cook until soft, 5-8 minutes.
- Add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Stir once or twice and let the wine cook down for about 1 minute.
- Add the almond milk, and some more salt. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer. Slowly pour in the corn starch mixture, stirring as you pour. Add the pecorino cheese. Let simmer, stirring often, until the milk reduces a bit. About 10-15 minutes.
- Meanwhile start cooking your pasta.
- When your pasta has about 1 minute left, heat a large skillet, add a bit of olive oil. Add your greens, scallions, sun dried tomatoes, and a pinch of salt. Cook until just barely wilted. Add a big squeeze of lemon. Add the pasta and the sauce to the pan and toss to mix it all together. Add some pasta water as needed to create desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings. Remove from heat and add another squeeze of lemon, pine nuts, lemon zest and fresh basil.
Â
I made this pasta tonight (not with fresh noodles but with some noodles I found that were made of vegetables). It was delicious. So many flavors working together. Thanks!
so glad you liked it!
This dish looks delicious and love the use of almond milk in the recipe!
I just made this and it was amazing! Easily the best pasta dish I have ever had the pleasure to make! Thank you for creating it =)
Oh this pasta needs to be made. Simple as that.
This looks positively delicious! You do such a great job photographing your recipes.
Jeanine you’re such a smarty pants. Loving all these wonderful things you’re making with almond milk. So brilliant. Warm, creamy pasta = best ever.
Such a great idea to use almond milk – this looks wonderfully rich yet still so bright and vibrant.
In love!! Pass me a bowl please!
Awesome pasta dish!!! Sure it tastes amazing!!!
Yummers! Love the use of almond milk here. So versatile 🙂
Per usual, this recipe looks amazing! Love the idea of using almond milk vs. dairy. I could easily make this g-free too.
Haaaaave the mercy.
This post is great. I have had on my to do list for some time to experiment with almond milk in savory dishes and you have done some of the work for me! Thanks and can’t wait to try! Love your blog! (I like Almond Breeze brand too.)
Oh my, I love subbing Almond milk or even almonds soaked in stock and then pureed instead of a cream base. It is sooooo dreamy and light. But it still gives you that touch of decadence. I love this so much. Easy and healthy!
I love the plate on a last picture, simply beautiful. And I like that you used an almond milk, I have it in my fridge 🙂
Gorgeous and lovely, I could just eat this right up!
this looks SO good! bookmarking the recipe; will definitely give it a try 🙂 thanks for sharing!
xx
This looks like such a fabulous, quick, dinner! Yum!
Yum! This looks delicious and perfect to eat outside on the patio.
YUM! Looks delicious.
Love that you used almond milk.
xo Quinn
Quinn Cooper Style
Me too! Wish there was almond cream available too, or is there?? Almond milk is the best for morning porridge too.
I don’t think there is – I know there’s soy creamer (like for coffee), but I try to stay away from soy milks.
This would be more work – but you could soak and blend almonds in a high speed blender with either almond milk or water to make a thicker “cream.”
Ok, thank you!
Hi Jeanine.
I was wondering why you avoid soy milks, is it because of allergies or something like that? I mostly use soy and almond milks when cooking, so I’m curious about your reasons.
Oh, and I love your blog.
Hi Carolina, I’ve read so many bad things about soy isoflavones… so I’ll eat soy in it’s fermented and/or less processed forms (tofu, tempeh, etc). I’ll have soy milk occasionally, but I prefer to buy almond milk as my staple milk replacement. (this is just my personal opinion, I’m not a nutritional expert).