Lumaconi with Leeks and Cauliflower

A creamy vegan pasta dish

Ditching dairy does not mean you have to say goodbye to the lusciousness or decadence of creamy dishes, on the contrary. There are lots of lovely stand-ins for cream and butter in the vegan world. We’ve got coconut milk, we’ve got tahini, we’ve got cashew cream, and in this creamy vegan pasta dish, we have a light and fresh sauce made from silken tofu.

I found the recipe for this sauce in one of my go-to vegan cookbooks: Vegan, by Gena Hamshaw. I love this book because it’s so practical, simple, and there are ZERO lifestyle pictures of the author. Zero! Not even one. How rare is that?

You could certainly sub out the cauliflower for broccoli, broccoli rabe, Chinese broccoli, or even romanesco. I absolutely love the look of the purple cauliflower here. If you live in Montreal, I highly recommend visiting the Jean-Talon market and going to see The Cauliflower Guy. That’s what we call him anyway 🙂 There are a few photos of him and his stand up in that romanesco link earlier in this paragraph. You absolutely can’t beat his crucifers.

And what’s with the pasta? Well Lumaconi is like a big fancy shell. They’re thick and toothsome and absolutely delightful when filled up with this creamy sauce. If you can’t find them, trying using giant shells or orecchiette.

Okay here we go!

Lumaconi with Leeks and Cauliflower

A creamy vegan pasta dish Serves 6

Ingredients

SAUCE

• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 large shallots, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 12 ounces silken tofu
• 5 tbsp large flake nutritional yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pinch of ground nutmeg
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• pepper to taste

PASTA & VEGGIES

• 1 bag Lumaconi noodles (500g) or Giant shells
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 large, or 2 small leek(s), well washed and chopped
• Cauliflower – either 1 small head, or 1/2 of a giant head, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup hemp seeds to garnish (optional)
• Fresh chives or green onions, or parsley to garnish

Method

1. To make the sauce, heat the olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Sauté the shallots until fragrant and tender, then add the garlic and sauté for a minute more.
2. Transfer the contents of the skillet into a blender. Add the remainder of the sauce ingredients and process until smooth. Set aside.
3. To make the veggies and pasta, heat a large, lidded skillet over medium heat. Add the olive oil and leeks and sauté until beginning to soften. Stir in the chopped cauliflower, garlic, and lemon juice. Cover and cook until the cauliflower is tender. Depending on the size of your cauliflower, this could take around 10 minutes. Stir occasionally. Midway through the cooking, to facilitate steaming the cauliflower, and to prevent sticking, add a ladle full of the pasta water to the pan. Stir to deglaze, and put the lid back on.
4. At the same time, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and prepare according to package directions (Lumaconi takes about 14 minutes to cook). Before draining the pasta, reserve a cup of the cooking liquid.
5. Now it’s time to assemble! In either the pasta pot or the lidded skillet (whichever is larger!) combine the pasta, cooked veggies, and sauce. Sir together. If it seems too dry, add the reserved cooking liquid from the pasta, a bit at a time, to loosen things up and achieve the desired consistency.*
6. The dish should be quite creamy, but not soupy. Transfer the pasta to a large serving bowl and garnish with chopped chives, parsley and/or hemp seeds for a boost of protein.

Enjoy!

* Tip: After you’ve emptied the sauce from the blender, swirl a bit of the pasta cooking liquid around in there to get all the last little bits of sauce out, and add this to the final dish.

Looking for other pasta dishes? Check this on out: Big Green Easy, Killer Pasta in 15 Minutes