Creamy Leek & Almond Pasta

A healthy & light creamy pasta made with almond milk, cremini mushrooms, greens, lemon, basil and sun dried tomatoes. Vegan option.

creamy leek & almond pasta / loveandlemons.com creamy leek & almond pasta

Meals like this are the reason I love cooking at home. These are the kinds of dishes that my lactose intolerant self can’t order at restaurants. The amount of butter and cream that go into pastas and risottos… I don’t even want to know.

creamy leek & almond pasta

I worked on this a few different ways. I was going to make an almond version of cashew cream (similar to this one), but I decided I didn’t want to ask you to break out the blender. At least not this time.

The winner was this version where I simmered leeks & mushrooms in almond milk. Such a rich & creamy flavor develops, sans the butter. I did a little bit of pecorino cheese at the end, but it’s so very little that you could easily sub vegan cheese or nutritional yeast (or possibly omit it), without compromise.

creamy leek & almond pasta / loveandlemons.com

creamy leek & almond pasta

 
Author:
Serves: serves about 2
Ingredients
for the sauce:
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup chopped leeks (white and light green parts)
  • 1 cup chopped cremini mushrooms
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • ¼ cup white wine
  • 1 cup original unsweetened Almond Breeze Almond Milk
  • 1 teaspoon corn starch
  • ¼ cup grated pecorino cheese (vegan: sub nutritional yeast)
  • pinches of red pepper flakes (optional)
  • salt & pepper
for the pasta:
  • 8 oz. linguine pasta (reserve some of the pasta water)
  • 2 cups chopped dandelion greens (or spinach)
  • juice of 1 small lemon + some zest
  • ¼ cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
  • 2 scallions, chopped
  • ¼ cup pine nuts
  • handful of chopped fresh basil
  • salt & pepper
Instructions
  1. In a very small bowl, whisk together the corn starch with a few tablespoons of the almond milk until there are no lumps. Set aside.
  2. Make your sauce. In a small saucepan, heat olive oil, leeks, mushrooms, garlic, salt & pepper. Cook until soft, 5-8 minutes.
  3. Add the white wine to deglaze the pan. Stir once or twice and let the wine cook down for about 1 minute.
  4. Add the almond milk, and some more salt. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce to a simmer. Slowly pour in the corn starch mixture, stirring as you pour. Add the pecorino cheese. Let simmer, stirring often, until the milk reduces a bit. About 10-15 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile start cooking your pasta.
  6. When your pasta has about 1 minute left, heat a large skillet, add a bit of olive oil. Add your greens, scallions, sun dried tomatoes, and a pinch of salt. Cook until just barely wilted. Add a big squeeze of lemon. Add the pasta and the sauce to the pan and toss to mix it all together. Add some pasta water as needed to create desired consistency. Taste and adjust seasonings. Remove from heat and add another squeeze of lemon, pine nuts, lemon zest and fresh basil.
Notes
Fresh pasta was especially good here (find it in the refrigerated section of most gourmet markets). Or sub gluten free pasta, if necessary.

almondbreeze

 

34 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it):  

  1. Zoë Mae
    07.22.2020

    I just made the recipe with oyster mushrooms from my CSA box and loved it! I would double the sauce recipe next time, it was so dang delicious!!

  2. Sheila
    03.30.2020

    This was really good!

    I used what I had, so didn’t have sun-dried tomato, pine nuts, nor scallions. I subbed a bit of parsley for the basil and we added some parm. I also subbed soy milk since my almond milk was vanilla flavored.

    Still great! Only complaint is that it took a lot of dishes and was a bit time-consuming, but worth the effort.

  3. Michelle Henry
    03.30.2015

    Made this over the weekend. It is super yummy. I will make again, especially the next time I host book club!

  4. merryum
    01.15.2015

    this looks amazing! Can I make the sauce ahead of time and store in the fridge?

    • jeanine
      01.15.2015

      hmm… I haven’t tried storing this one so I can’t say for sure. If you give it a try, let me know how it goes!

  5. Rachel Page from healthyrachelpage.blogspot.com
    12.03.2014

    Can’t wait to try it! I love almonds and pasta so this sounds like a perfect dish for me.

  6. Vanessa
    07.26.2013

    I made this for a quick dinner last night exactly as printed. So quick, easy and delicious. The sauce rock! Thank you for your recipes.

    • jeanine
      07.26.2013

      so glad you liked it!

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.