I had to go into work on last Saturday, which meant I had to treat myself to a fun (read pricey) lunch. You gotta make the 6th work day of the week special, right?
I went to Cube, my favorite Hollywood eatery and had, among other things, leek, pine nut and marscapone cheese ravioli with lemon cream sauce. Sounds rather simple, but the combination of these ingredients was rather sublime.
Toasted pine nuts and tender leeks gave contrasting texture on a background of creamy marscapone, sandwiched between perfectly al dente sheets of fresh pasta. The lemon cream sauce was a rich and slightly tangy accompaniment, topped with a little shredded cheese and fresh parsley.
My only complaint? This dish was super saturated with dairy, and therefore had the unfortunate side effect of leaving me feeling uncomfortably full.
Despite this, the flavors were so good that I decided to create a dish at home that would capture some of those flavors, without being quite so rich.
When browsing through one of my favorite cookbooks, The Artful Vegan, I found a recipe for Meyer Lemon Cashew Cream. The cream was simply a blend of meyer lemon juice, raw cashews, miso and water. In the book, the cream was suggested to be used to garnish a soup, however I wondered if perhaps I could use this as a pasta sauce.
Meyer Lemon Cashew Cream garnishes Sweet Potato Fennel Bisque.
Turns out it does work with pasta, quite well, in fact. I tossed it with some fettucini, sauteed leeks and toasted pine nuts for a dish that was rich and creamy, yet much lighter than it’s dairy-laden counterpart.
As I was making this dish, I was a bit skeptical. I thought that I might have to throw some cheese down to have the full flavor profile, but as I ate this pasta, I realized that indeed there would be no need to cheese up this dish. It was quite satisfying all on it’s own.
Fettuccini with Meyer Lemon Cashew Cream, Leeks and Toasted Pine Nuts
Inspired from The Artful Vegan
Serves 2–3
- 1/2 cup Raw Cashews
- 2 tsp Miso Paste
- 1/2 Cup Meyer Lemon Juice
- 1 Cup Water
- 1/2 lb Fettucini
- 2 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 2 Leeks, white and light green parts only, 1/4″ chop
- 4 cloves Garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup Raw Pine Nuts
- Make the cashew cream. Blend the cashews, lemon juice and miso in a blender until the mixture is smooth and creamy. The time this takes depends on the quality of your blender. Add the water 1/4 cup at a time and continue blending. The final mixture should have the consistency of half and half. Set aside.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the fettuccini and cook according to package directions.
- Meanwhile, heat a small skillet over high heat. Add the pine nuts and let them sit for a minute. They will begin to brown on one side. Once they have achieved a medium brown color, shake the pan to flip the nuts. Cook another minute or so being careful not to burn any. Remove from heat, chop coarsely, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
- In a separate skillet heat the olive oil in over medium high heat. Once hot, add the leeks. Cook for about four minutes, stirring often. When the leeks are slightly translucent, add the garlic and pine nuts.
- Drain the pasta and add to the skillet. Add the pine nuts and the prepared cashew cream. Toss to coat, remove from heat and serve immediately.
