Recipes for the Road - Creamy Spinach Spaghetti

When you’ve racked up some steps, your feet are a bit achy and you are ready to pull out the bed, fill the hot water bottle and hunker down for the evening you need a quick, nourishing recipe that hits the spot but also doesn’t fill you up too much before lying down.

I learned how to make wonderful plant based pasta sauces on the Deliciously Ella app but without a high speed blender in the van I wasn’t sure how I was going to make the recipes suitable for the road. But then I came across a manual food processor and figured cashew butter might work instead of blended cashews and the adaptation got a whole lot easier.

On the first night I had away since the van had been properly refitted I’d arrived late and hadn’t managed to stop at a shop. Rifling through the food box in the van cupboard I matched some ingredients with the half a bag of spinach I had grabbed from my otherwise empty veg drawer at home and came up with this dish.

You can add whatever veg you want in towards the end. Also if it’s the season there’s nothing stopping you from using wild garlic instead of spinach here. I also think this would work nicely with some rocket and walnuts stirred through at the end.

Nourishing pasta.

Spinach is loaded with magnesium which is great for aching muscles and can also help to restore energy and vitality through it’s richness in iron. The nutritional yeast that makes this dish so creamy is an excellent source of B vitamins for a vegan diet - B vitamins play an important role in regulating energy, managing stress and promoting cell health.

So, this dish not only is quick to make and delicious, you can also be happy in the knowledge that it’s nourishing your adventuring body and brain. Get stuck in.

Ingredients.

please note you will need a manual food processor for this recipe

1 handful spaghetti of your choice

3/4 cup oat milk

2 tbsp nutritional yeast (plus extra to top)

1 tbsp cashew butter

2 big handfuls spinach

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp mustard

salt and pepper

A dash of oil

Method.

First of all, pour a flash of oil into a saucepan and cook 1 handful of the spinach by sautéing until limp. Put the cooked spinach aside, rinse out the pan and start cooking your spaghetti by bringing a pan of salted water to a boil and then bending your spaghetti in and stirring round before turning the heat down to a simmer. Cooking times may vary depending on the type of spaghetti you’ve used so check the packet.

While the pasta cooks, add your cooked spinach, oat milk, nutritional yeast, cashew butter, garlic powder, mustard and a little salt and pepper into a manual food processor. Pull the handle rapidly and fast a good twenty times or so until the mixture is blended well into a sauce. It may look a little watery but that’s absolutely fine, it will thicken while cooking. Also, these little processors don’t get it completely smooth but do a good job at getting it all down to a good consistency.

Once your spaghetti is a minute from cooking add in the rest of the uncooked spinach and then drain with the spaghetti, reserving a mug full of pasta cooking water incase you need it. Return to the pan and stir through your sauce. Cook slowly for around 5 minutes stirring well throughout. If everything in the pan gets thick quickly you can add a little pasta cooking water. Once everything looks creamy and ready to eat, transfer to a plate and top with nutritional yeast and some salt and pepper.