Light, but creamy lemon and garlic rigatoni with asparagus, samphire and peas. If there's one thing I love, it's creamy pasta sauces and this one has a secret ingredient to add a little more protein and nourishment, for a fresh, spring dish, high in protein and full of flavour!
Simply blend up some silken tofu and cashews for the base of your sauce and add some aromatics like lemon, garlic, wholegrain mustard, parsley and plenty of black pepper. Coming together in just 15 minutes, this pasta dish is great for a speedy weeknight meal, or serve it up with some garlic bread and a glass of wine, for a delicious weekend treat.
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Creamy Lemon & Asparagus Rigatoni | Serves: 4 | Time: 15 mins
You'll need
- High-speed blender
- Sauté pan
- Saucepan
- Slotted spoon
- Chopping board
- Knife
- Measuring cups & spoons
Ingredients
- 1 block silken tofu
- 1/2 cup cashews
- 1 cup water
- 250g rigatoni
- Olive oil
- 4 cloves garlic, sliced
- Bunch of asparagus
- 100g samphire
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Zest of 2 lemons
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1/4 cup capers
- 1 heaped tsp whole grain mustard
- Salt
- Black pepper
- Vegan parm (optional)
Method
- Bring a large pan of generously salted water to the boil.
- Meanwhile, add the silken tofu, cashews and water to the blender and blitz until smooth.
- Mince the garlic and prep the asparagus, snap the woody ends off, discard these and then chop the stems into 1 inch pieces, leaving the tips intact.
- Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook for 7 minutes, until just shy of al dente.
- Then add the pan to a medium heat, drizzle in a generous amount of olive oil and saute the garlic for a few minutes, then add in the asparagus, samphire, peas, cream sauce, lemon zest, juice, capers, mustard, about 1/2 a cup of the pasta cooking water and black pepper. Simmer for a few minutes until the pasta is just shy of al dente, then spoon in the pasta using a slotted spoon.
- Taste for seasoning, adjust as required and allow the sauce to thicken to desired consistency, adding a little more pasta water if required.
- Serve up with some grated vegan parm and black pepper and enjoy!
Top tip: if you're not serving all the pasta at once, save a little more of the pasta cooking water and use it to thin out the sauce when reheating.
Cassidy xx
