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Pasta substitute recipe (Italian Pasta!)

Photo of italian pasta substitute recipe

Here’s a delicious pasta substitute recipe for you!

I wanted to post a pasta substitute recipe because I have so many friends now who need to eat gluten-free foods. They aren’t necessarily looking for raw food recipes, but once they try this pasta, well, they start asking me for more recipes! So this is for you guys 🙂

The sauce takes less than five minutes to make, but it sure doesn’t taste like it!
I can fool anyone with this sauce by pouring it over “traditional” cooked pasta with whatever cooked toppings they’re having.

I pour mine over my veggie noodles (which are super quick and easy, as you’ll see below), and everyone’s happy – whether they’re raw foodies or not!

Makes enough sauce and noodles to serve 4 as a main (easily!)

Italian-style Pasta

You will need:

A blender or hand blender

A spiralizer or vegetable peeler

Ingredients for the sauce

  • 1/3 cup/20g sundried tomatoes
  • 3 medium tomatoes
  • ÂĽ cup/30g goji berries (optional, but boy are they good! Soak in warm water for a few minutes if not already soft. Or you can use raisins instead)
  • ÂĽ cup/35g cashew nuts (soak for 20 minutes or overnight for creamiest result)
  • ÂĽ cup/60ml water (or use the soak water from the cashews or goji berries)
  • 2 heaped teaspoons nutritional yeast (see tips)
  • 1 teaspoon dried basil (or 2 teaspoons fresh)
  • Âľ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ cup/50g fresh mushrooms, finely chopped (optional – if you want a thicker texture to your sauce)
  • ½ teaspoon dried parsley for sprinkling on top (optional)

Ingredients for the noodles

  • 1 medium butternut squash or 3 medium zucchinis (courgettes) (about 3 cups/500g of flesh)
  • 3 tablespoons of your favorite oil, e.g. olive, flax, or hemp
  • 3 tablespoons of your favorite herb(s), e.g. rosemary or oregano
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice

How you do it

To make the sauce, put anything you need to soak together in a bowl while you get out the rest of the ingredients. Then put everything EXCEPT for the mushrooms and parsley in the blender and blend well. Add in the chopped mushrooms if using, and stir.

To make the “noodles,” if using butternut squash, remove the hard peel first.

Then spiralize your squash or zucchini to form the noodles (see picture). If using a vegetable peeler, simply keep peeling to obtain long, wide noodles.

Spiralized zucchini in pasta substitute recipe

Mix the remaining noodle ingredients in a separate bowl and pour over your noodles. Stir well.

Divide your noodles amongst 4 plates and top with the pasta sauce.

Sprinkle with dried parsley (optional), and serve.

Rocking Raw Chef tips

  • If you’re using dry sundried tomatoes (rather than the ones packed in olive oil), soak them first in warm water for a few minutes so that they blend better.
  • Nutritional yeast flakes are available from most health food stores or whole foods markets, and they’re magical: they add a gorgeous cheesy flavor. You can sprinkle them on top of any dish instead of parmesan cheese and it will taste fantastic! You can also find them at Amazon.
  • You can read more about a spiralizer and what to do with one here. If you want to purchase one, I recommend the Paderno World Cuisine model, which you’ll find here.
  • You can play about with the texture of your sauce by adding a bit of hemp, flax, or olive oil – about 1 tablespoon.
  • The sauce keeps very well in a glass jar in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it in ice cube trays for later use.
  • If you don’t want to eat your noodles immediately, you can leave them to marinate in the oil and lemon (they’ll soften slightly).
  • You can heat the sauce and “noodles,” provided you do it gently so that they don’t get too hot. You want your meal to be nice and warm but not too hot to the touch – that’s how you know your nutrients are still intact and that your food is still “raw.”

And what’s more…

You can get lots more quick and healthy main meals in my 5-Minute Mains, along with recipes for Korma Curry, Moroccan Tomato Soup, and more.

Enjoy your Italian Pasta!

And of course, let me know what you think in the comments!

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