Chargrilled Asparagus with Herb Pappardelle and Cashew ‘Cheese’

This is a special occasion vegan dish and the recipe is made up of three parts and put together to serve. The cashew cheese needs to be started the day before and the pasta can be made in advance, so on the day all you need to do is chargrill the vegetables and cook the pasta.

Dietary: Vegan

Cashew ‘Cheese’

Serves: 4

Prep time: 30 minutes after soaking the cashews overnight

Chilling time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 250g cashews – soaked in water for at least 5 hours or overnight
• 1 garlic clove, pureed
• 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Juice of ½ lemon
• ½ tsp salt
• 15g chives, finely sliced

Method

1. Drain the soaked cashews and combine them with the garlic, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and salt into a blender and blend as smooth as possible.
2. Roll up the cashew ‘cheese’ into a log shape using a sheet of clingfilm, wrapped around to create a firm log. Chill in the freezer for about 30 minutes to firm up. When firm, remove the clingflm and roll in finely sliced chives. Slice to serve.
3. Any left over cashew ‘cheese’ can be rolled up loosely in baking parchment and kept in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

Herb Pappardelle

Serves: 2

Prep time: 1 hour | Cook time: 2 minutes

Ingredients

• 100g 00 pasta flour
• 50ml water
• Semolina for rolling
• 15g each of soft herbs – basil, dill, tarragon

Method

1. Place the pasta flour in a mixing bowl.
2. Mix the water into the flour and knead to make a firm dough.
3. The dough will be firmer than bread dough but not so dry that it crumbles when you knead it.
4. Knead for a few minutes until smooth and then wrap in clingfilm and chill for half an hour before rolling.
5. Sprinkle the table with semolina. Work with half of the dough at a time to make 2 long strips of pasta. Roll out the dough into a thin sheet. You can use the rolling pin to begin, then finish by passing the dough through a pasta machine to get it super thin.
6. Pick the herb leaves off the stems. Lay the leaves over one half of the pasta strip, leaving a little space between each leaf. Fold the other side of the pasta over and press gently with the rolling pin. Roll through the machine on a thin setting a couple of times so that the herb leaves are well pressed and spread out through the dough. Trim the edges then cut the sheets down into short lasagna lengths then in half again down the length to make wide pappardelle strips.

Chargrilled Asparagus

Serves 2

Prep time: 15 minutes | Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 bunch asparagus, remove the woody ends
• 16 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
• salt and pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled and gently crushed open
• 4 basil leaves, finely sliced

Method

1. Heat a chargrill pan until it is so hot it is smoking. Very lightly brush the asparagus with a drop of oil and a tiny pinch of salt. Place on the chargrill for a couple of minutes to create a few black lines, turning half way through cooking. Put to one side. Place the tomatoes skin side down on the chargrill and sprinkle with a little salt, pepper and thyme leaves. Cook for a minute, just on the skin-side to create black lines, remove carefully from the chargrill pan.
2. In a frying pan heat the olive oil gently and fry the garlic until pale gold. Remove from the heat and take the garlic out of the oil.

To serve:

Cook the pasta in plenty of salted water for 2 minutes until tender. Drain the pasta and return to the pan. Stir the chargrilled asparagus through the pasta along with the garlic infused olive oil. Divide the pasta on to a couple of plates, arrange the tomatoes on top of the pasta along with a few slices of cashew cheese. Finish with finely sliced basil leaves.