I love challenging myself to cook vegan as a way to really celebrate vegetables. This recipe does exactly that– its not a replacement for cheese or meat, its just delicious in its own right. Tons of umami from the roasted mushrooms and tomatoes, and the cashew cream adds enough fat to make this extra satiating.
Serves 2
Ingredients
- 1 cup cashews
- 3/4 cup water
- 1 small- medium sized spaghetti squash
- Olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1.5 cups maitake mushrooms (shiitake could also work, sliced)
- 2 tbs fresh oregano
- 1 tbs fresh thyme
- 1.25 cups cherry tomatoes.
- 2 tsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp nutritional yeast or miso paste
Instructions
1. Soak your cashews in the water for 2 hours
2. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
3. Cut your squash down the middle and scoop out the seeds (I like to cut down the skinnier side, you get longer strands)
4. Cut the tips off a clove or garlic
5. On a baking sheet, coat your two squash pieces and the garlic in oil and salt
6. Bake the squash (cut side down) and garlic on the same sheet. Squash will need 45 mins -1.25 hours (I swear every squash is always different) and the garlic will need about 30 minutes. Pull the garlic out when it’s ready and let cool.
7. Separate your maitake mushrooms by hand into smaller pieces. If using shiitake, don’t slice them too thinly or they can burn. On a baking tray, coat in oil, lots of salt, pepper, and 1 tsp of balsamic vinegar and half the oregano and thyme
8. Place your cherry tomatoes in an oven safe pan or dish (with rims) and coat in oil, salt, pepper, 1 tsp of balsamic, and the rest of the herbs.
9. Add your mushrooms and tomatoes to the oven. Mushrooms will need 15-20 minutes and tomatoes will need 25-30 minutes.
10. When your squash is fork tender and shreds easily, remove from the oven and let cool a bit. When cool, use a fork to separate out the strands.
12. At the 2 hour mark for the cashews, blend with salt to taste, your miso or nutritional yeast, and your garlic (squeeze the garlic out of the skins). Thin with water if needed (or if you eat dairy, some milk or cream). The texture should be similar to ricotta.
13. Mix all the veg together and separate into bowls. Top with cashew cream and chili flakes.