Vegan Pasta Carbonara with Portobello Mushroom 'Bacon', Rocket & Lemon - Page 2 - Ingredients list Page 3 - Equipment list and things to do before ...

Vegan Pasta Carbonara with Portobello
 Mushroom ‘Bacon’, Rocket & Lemon

                   Page 2 - Ingredients list

 Page 3 - Equipment list and things to do before the cookalong

           Page 4-5 - Method during the cookalong

Vegan Pasta Carbonara with Portobello Mushroom ‘Bacon’, Rocket & Lemon

Ingredients - to serve 2 people:

PLEASE MULTIPLY ACCORDING TO YOUR REQUIREMENTS

Portobello Mushroom ‘Bacon’

   ❏    4 Portobello Mushrooms
   ❏    2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
   ❏    1 tablespoon Maple Syrup
   ❏    1 tablespoon Apple Cider Vinegar
   ❏    1 tablespoon Olive Oil
   ❏    Pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Carbonara Sauce

   ❏ 4 Garlic cloves​ (whole, unpeeled)
   ❏ 100g plain cashew nuts ​(soaked overnight in a bowl of room temp water the night
     before - if you forget to do this, you can boil them in a saucepan for 15 minutes any time
     during the day of the cookalong, drain and rinse until using)
   ❏ 150ml Plant-based milk, measured out and ready to use (Oatly Barista, in the grey
     carton, is a great option)
   ❏ 100g Silken Tofu, weighed out and ready to use (Look on the normal supermarket
     shelves, perhaps in the asian ingredients section. This is not normally in the fridges
     where you would find regular tofu. If you can’t find it, normal tofu will do, but you will
     need to increase the plant milk to 200ml as it will have a thicker consistency)
   ❏ 2 teaspoons Nutritional Yeast - If you can’t find this and want to keep it vegan, use 1
     teaspoon onion powder and a pinch of your lemon zest from the topping instead. If you
     don’t need it to be vegan, a tablespoon or two of finely grated parmesan will do nicely.
   ❏ 100g frozen Peas
   ❏ Pinch of sea salt + freshly ground black pepper

Pasta

   ❏ Any long noodle-like ​dried Pasta - My favourite is Linguine, but Spaghetti, Tagliatelle,
     Bucatini etc are great too if you prefer. It depends on the appetites of the people you’re
     eating with, but as a guide I’d recommend around 80g uncooked pasta per person.
   ❏ Sea salt​ to season the pasta cooking water
   ❏ Enough water to cook your quantity of pasta

Rocket & Lemon topping

   ❏ A couple of handfuls of ​rocket leaves​, washed and drained
   ❏ Zest of one lemon + juice to taste

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Equipment/Utensils required:

   ❏ Oven, preheated to 200C
   ❏ Two stove-top rings / flames
   ❏ Baking tray lined with baking paper or foil
   ❏ Blender / Nutribullet / Food processor
   ❏ Large pot to cook pasta in
   ❏ Colander to drain pasta
   ❏ Large saucepan or high-sided frying pan to combine sauce + pasta in over heat
   ❏ Cutting board + sharp knife
   ❏ 1 mixing bowl
   ❏ 1 tablespoon measure
   ❏ 1 teaspoon measure
   ❏ 1 fine cheese grater or zester / microplane for grating lemon zest
   ❏ Kitchen tongs
   ❏ A timer - smartphone timer is perfectly fine

Method:

BEFORE THE COOKALONG BEGINS

   1. Soak Cashew nuts in a bowl of room temperature tap water the night before. Drain and
      briefly rinse before the cookalong begins. If you forget to do this, you can boil them
      continuously for 15 minutes anytime during the day of the cookalong.

   2. Preheat your oven to 200C before the cookalong begins.

   3. Prepare baking sheet with foil or baking paper.

   4. Bring your pot of water (for cooking the pasta) to a boil before the cookalong begins.

   5. Have all of your ingredients handy in your work area.

   6. Have serving plates ready - it all comes together quite quickly in the end!

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Method during the cookalong

   1. Remove the stems from your mushrooms and slice the caps thinly (£ coin thickness).
      Whisk together the marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl, then add the mushrooms and
      whole garlic cloves and mix to coat everything in the marinade.

   2. Take your mushrooms out of the marinade and lay out the slices on your baking sheet in
      a single layer. Pour over the remaining marinade and scatter the garlic cloves over the
      tray. Place the tray into the upper third of your preheated oven and set a timer for 20
      minutes. If the timer goes off while you’re completing the following steps, just remove the
      tray from the oven and set aside.

   3. While the mushrooms bake, let’s get going with the sauce. Add all of the sauce
      ingredients ​except the peas and the garlic cloves (which are in the oven with the
      mushrooms) to your blender / food processor. Blend together until smooth and creamy.
      Leave the sauce in the blender, as we’ll be adding the garlic cloves and blending once
      more when they’re ready.

   4. Pasta time. Add a generous pinch of salt to your pasta water and stir to dissolve. Taste
      the water - it should taste slightly salty, if it doesn’t add more salt and taste again.

   5. Add your pasta to the pot, and using your tongs, carefully bend the pasta as it softens to
      fit the noodles down into the water. Cook, stirring occasionally for about 2 minutes short
      of the recommended time on your pasta packaging. At this point we’ll start checking it -
      so fish out a strand of pasta and bite it. What we’re looking for is a slight hardness, not
      unpleasant but not quite fully cooked. If you have that already, immediately start step 6.
      If not, check again after 30 seconds more.

   6. Before you drain the pasta, scoop out about half a coffee mug full of the pasta water and
      set aside. Then drain your pasta. Refill the pasta cooking pot with cold tap water and
      add the pasta back to the pot. This will stop the pasta from continuing to cook. After
      about a minute, drain again and set aside ready to add to the sauce.

   7. The mushrooms and garlic should be ready by this stage. Remove the outer skin of the
      garlic cloves (they should just pop out when pinched) and add the cloves to your sauce
      in the blender. Blend again until smooth.

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8. Set your high-sided pot / frying pan over a medium-low heat on the stove. Add about a
   tablespoon of pasta water and your blended sauce to the pan, and bring to a simmer.
   Add your peas along with the nearly-cooked pasta and stir to coat in the sauce. Allow
   the mixture to bubble away, stirring occasionally, for a minute or two. The pasta will
   finish cooking as the sauce thickens. If your sauce looks like it’s thickening too much,
   just stir through a dash of plant milk or water to thin it out again. Finally, stir through the
   mushrooms and turn off the heat.

9. Plate up! Use your tongs to portion the pasta into bowls or onto plates. Top with a small
   nest of rocket leaves, grate lemon zest and squeeze a little juice over each dish.

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