Spaghetti with cauliflower sauce | v + gf

It’s mid-June and I’m probably supposed to write about strawberries, tomatoes, picnics, and potatoes all the time. Well, I did share a potato recipe recently. Anyway. I love to eat seasonally and I try to do that as much as possible all year round. And we are stuffing our faces with all the seasonal produce, but sometimes we like to mix things up a bit and do something completely different. Like a traditional pasta dish for example.

This is one of my absolute favorite everyday-recipes. It has very few ingredients and it takes almost no time at all to prepare. It’s inspired by the classic spaghetti carbonara, which is a very popular dish in Sweden. The carbonara is made from eggs, cream, ham, and cheese and is as non-vegan as it gets. But, the thing is that you can make a vegan pasta sauce that is somewhat similar to the carbonara sauce. Just replace all the animal products with cauliflower and some spices and you’re done. It’s actually that simple.

Cooked cauliflower mixed in a blender (together with some oat milk) gets almost the exact same consistency as the carbonara sauce (as I remember it at least). It’s super creamy and has yellow-ish color, and it absorbs spices very well. Just add some nutritional yeast, which tastes a little like cheese (just like the carbonara sauce). Finish off with some garlic and black pepper and your sauce is ready. You may think that this sauce must taste an awful lot of cauliflower, but it doesn’t. It’s super smooth and has sort of neutral taste. That’s why it’s so nice to add a lot of spices to it. The nutritional yeast is a good source for the B-vitamins, which is great too. Vitamin B12 is especially important if you’re vegan.

I love to let vegetables be the center of a meal like this. Most people need to eat more vegetables and fruits, and I promise you – eating 500 g of cauliflower has never been this easy. Ok, the recipe is for two, but still, the cauliflower alone makes up half of the daily recommendation for fruits and vegetables (which is 500 g). Compare this to eating 250 g of raw cauliflower! Raw vegetables are of course super healthy and you should eat them in abundance, but I guess you see my point. I don’t want to sound like a teacher here, I’m just trying to inspire you to use vegetables in more than just salads.Another recipe, where the meal is based around vegetables, is my socca pizza with bell pepper spread instead of tomato sauce. But today it’s all about pasta, right? Let’s head over to the recipe right away!

Spaghetti with cauliflower sauce

serves 2

450 g cauliflower
3 dl oat milk (or other plant milk)
 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
salt & black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili flakes

2 servings of spaghetti of your choice (I used lentil spaghetti)

Directions

1. Prepare the spaghetti according to the instructions on the package.
2. Break up the cauliflower into florets and place in a large saucepan.
3. Cover the cauliflower with water and place the saucepan on the stove.
4. Bring the water to a boil, then lower the heat and let cook (over low-medium heat) until soft.
5. Remove the water and transfer the cauliflower to a blender.
6. Add oat milk and mix until you have a smooth, thick sauce.
7. Season with black pepper, garlic, cumin, and chili flakes, and stir in the nutritional yeast.
8. Serve the spaghetti with the cauliflower sauce and some greens on the side.
9. Roasted chickpeas are great to this dish, so if you like, you can add that as well.