This creamy spaghetti sauce with mushrooms, pine nuts and spinach is one of those ridiculously easy recipes you’ll want to keep on hand for those busy midweek nights.
The sauce is blended together in a couple of minutes, the pine nuts roast in another couple of minutes, which leaves the pan roasting of some mushrooms. And that you can do in the time it takes for the pasta water to boil. Quick, nutritious, and super easy.
If you like, you can use rucola, kale, or even bok choi instead of the spinach. Whichever dark leafy green takes your fancy.
The Flavors
What makes this particular creamy spaghetti sauce stand out is the use of nutmeg. That earthy flavor blends so well with mushrooms, not to mention the richness of the pine nuts, the smooth pasta, and the tangy spinach. Add to that the umami flavors from miso paste and nutritional yeast and you have a winner.
Creamy Yet Light
This sauce, although perfectly creamy, is light … just the way I like it. If you are more into the heavier type of sauces you can swap out some of the almond milk for some extra virgin olive oil. Half and half works good. It will emulsify beautifully once blended and add that extra fullness to the sauce.
If you’d like an even lighter dish, you can use half and half spaghetti and spiralized zucchini or very thinly sliced cabbage. The latter adds a bit of crunch, which I personally like, but I’ll leave that one up to you.
For another creamy pasta sauce try my recipe for Spaghetti Alfredo.
Enjoy!
Creamy Spaghetti Sauce With Mushrooms, Pine Nuts, and Spinach
Ingredients
- 125 grams (4.5 oz) silken tofu
- 1/4 cup (60 ml) unsweetened almond milk
- 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon miso paste
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Salt & pepper to taste
- A handful pine nuts
- A little extra virgin olive oil or vegetable stock for sautéing
- 200 grams (7 oz) mushrooms of your choice I usually use a mix of button and shiitake mushrooms
- A couple of handfuls fresh spinach or other greens of your choice Chop the leaves if they are big.
- Whole wheat spaghetti or pasta of your choice for 2 people
Instructions
- Blend the tofu, soy milk, yeast, miso paste, salt, pepper and nutmeg in a blender. Set aside.
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan until golden brown. Set aside.
- In the same frying pan, heat a bit of extra virgin olive oil or vegetable stock and sauté the mushrooms for a few minutes until browned a bit. Season to taste with salt and pepper and set aside.
- Cook the pasta in lightly salted water according to instructions on the package. Drain well and mix with the sauce, mushrooms and pine nuts. Mix well and then throw in the spinach leaves. If the leaves are big, roughly tear them up before adding to the pasta. Toss to mix and serve immediately.
