Sunday, March 09, 2008

Vegan Alfredo....the Real Deal

For quite some time now I've merrily lurked the ppk forums. Truth be told, I spend a LOT of time there, reading, drooling, laughing my asparagus off, but I never jump in. why? because I can never seem to get an avatar pic to load, I'm not all that fond of the username I gave myself, and I'm far too lazy to participate in the food porn there which, to me, is really the best way to introduce yourself. hehe. So lurk away I do.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaanyway, in my perusing the boards tonight I stumbled upon Lachesis's (of the Seitan O' Greatness recipe fame) recipe for a vegan Alfredo that she promised was as good, if not better, than the original dairy-laden version. I admit I was skeptical. For one, most vegan Alfredo's don't make that claim, they just try to replace the beloved sauce with something equally rich, creamy, and flavorful but never going for that particular taste. Also, this sauce is tofu based and contained no nutritional yeast (which just seemed odd to me in this kind of recipe). I'm typically wary of tofu-based sauces. Don't get me wrong, I loooove me some tofu, and I suppose the only 'sauces' I've tried with tofu as a base have really only been salad dressings....and I loathed each of those. Since those were never cooked and this one is I figured, 'why not?!'

Ladies and Gentlemen? This was everything the amazing Lachesis promised....and so simple to make! Her original version was actually an Alfredo Stroganoff concoction with marinated mushrooms and suggested addition of chik'n strips. I wanted to really put the 'cream' sauce to the test so I just made mine and poured it over whole grain pasta and broccoli.
The best part (aside from how YUMMY this was!) was that, with the help of my trusty hand blender, I only used two pots for this meal. I put all the ingredients for the Alfredo Sauce in one pot, whirred it to a creamy smoothness, and heated it up while I cooked the pasta, adding the broccoli for the last three minutes. Ta da! Best darn Alfredo I've had in AGES.

I should probably add here that I enjoyed the helping you see above just as you see it. Then I bastardized it in my usual way by getting a second helping and dousing it with a generous amount of nutritional yeast. I highly recommend trying this one out as is in her recipe sans n.y., but if you're a n.y. NUT like me (I seriously cannot get enough of this stuff), it will only get even better with that addition. What can I say? I'm a cheezy kinda gal.

Edited to add:
(for her entire original recipe, follow the link above and just scroll down to it)

Lachesis' Amazing Alfredo Sauce
1/2c Earth Balance (or a little more is fine, to taste)
2 cups soymilk (unsweetened is best)
1 package Extra firm tofu (Mori-nu.. the kind in the tetra pack, appr 12 ounces)
1-2 tbsp white cooking wine
2 tbsp onion powder
2-3 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp sea salt
1-2 tsp black pepper (to taste)
pinch of nutmeg
3-4 tbsp arrowroot or cornstarch powder (more or less, as needed.. it should be creamy and the margarine should not separate) + a little cold soy milk just to dissolve

Mix all ingredients in either in a food processor or already in saucepan with hand blender. Heat over med lo heat until hot, stirring often. whisk in arrowroot/cornstarch mixture and heat until just bubbling. do not let boil. Sauce should be thicker by now. Serve and enjoy!

32 comments:

MeloMeals said...

Looks awesome! I've been making alfredo with tofu for years... it's one of my standby's in my tofu cooking class and of of my favorite was to trick people into eating tofu!

That sauce looks awesome.. I'm interested in her recipe.

Anonymous said...

that does look fabulous! mi marido's favorite dishes include pasta alfredo, which i just don't make - i think i'll try this one! wow!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

oh my this looks amazing

Billy said...

Nice, thanks for sharing. I was never a fan of alfredo, but maybe I'd like vegan alfredo.

I've added you to my blogroll.

Brandie said...

OH MY GOD that looks good!!! I know I'm not vegan ("yet", as my mother would say *wink*) but I am allergic to dairy and miss all the creamy cheesy goodness of some foods I used to eat.. I am SOOO trying this recipe! Thank you!!!

Unknown said...

Looks so good! I did not find the recipe for the Alfredo sauce, did I miss it??

Sheree' said...

Drooling again!

lae21 said...

I don't think I have the right kind of tofu called for, but this looks perfect after a day digging on the beach. Thanks!

T said...

Its funny- I was never that into creamy pasta sauces since I went vegan. Now I'm all over V'Con pasta alla vodka and mac and cheeze- and maybe this one too! Thank for the heads up!

Ms.B said...

I've never tried making a creamy sauce with tofu. It was so good! I'm surprised I didn't eat the whole pot's worth. Thank you for sharing this!

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

This sounds wicked good!

Anonymous said...

be honest, is it really good? cause i have tried making some fake cheese (not from your recipies) and they suck lol not even editable. so i'm a little hesitant on mock stuff now :P

Heather said...

Thank you so much for this. My husband will be so happy. He misses ooey-gooey pasta dishes. While he still eats meat (gasp! I know), he cannot eat any dairy and so he's all about the vegan recipes. All these ingredients sound wonderful together.

Unknown said...

what is earth balance (1st ingredient in the recipe)?

Anonymous said...

earth balance is vegan butter

Anonymous said...

Terrific recipe! I went ahead and made it tonight, even though I'm not a vegan. It was terrific! I made it without the arrowroot and white wine, just because I didn't have any, and it turned out fine. I also used the Silk "plain" soymilk (which has cane juice added) and upped the sea salt by 1/4th of a teaspoon to compensate.

I had it over linguine and asparagus, and it was easily as good as any "real" alfredo I've had, and much less fat. Really tasty!

Anonymous said...

Wow! This truly is the real deal! The only vegan alfredo I've ever had that is just as decadent and satisfying as the real thing. Thanks so much for sharing this!

HummingBird said...

this does look and sound delicious! Unfortunately here in South Africa we're seriously limited re ingredients

Mary said...

Just served this to my non-vegan butter and meat loving friends and they all had multiple helpings. Amazing!

dude_itsemily said...

hey, my boyfriend and I made this for dinner Sunday night. we made it with penne pasta, and mixed in spinach, asparagus, and broccoli. it was AWESOME. we want to make it for dinner again sometime soon.

thank you!

lauren ikon said...

extra firm in a tetra pack, does that mean extra firm silken, then? yes?

Dandelionkisses said...

Wow this was good, thank you for posting :) I put it up on my own vegan blog after I made it this evening for dinner.

Anonymous said...

This was a good sauce, but it definitely needed a little zing to make it more authentically cheesy. I added a few tablespoons of lemon juice and it made it so much better!

Newish Vegan said...

I just made this and it was great! I added some sauteed mushrooms and onions and I am happy and full now :) It does have this strong "raw tofu" smell, which I don't like, but it tastes even better than I remember real alfredo sauce being!

jennifer said...

I made it exactly as written and it was delicious! I haven't had alfredo since I went vegan - I guess I always thought it would require expensive specialty ingredients and still not be as good as the real thing. But this is so smooth and creamy, in my opinion it's superior to regular dairy alfredo in every way. It's ridiculously simple and the ingredients are cheap & easy to find. And it makes a ton of sauce, enough to drench a pound of pasta & toppings and still have enough left over to dip garlic bread in. I served mine over whole wheat fettucine with sauteed onions and mushrooms and roasted broccoli. Thanks for the awesome recipe, I'll be making it again and again!

Monique said...

Simply Amazing! And so easy!! Thank you!!!! I can't do dairy and have been craving Alfredo for years.

Tara Berkoski said...

I'm definitely not a fan of this recipe. It was pretty bland and spicy. The only thing good about it was the texture. I'm going to stick to other vegan alfredo recipes. Sorry. I think it needs some nutritional yeast for sure, maybe something more than that.

Anonymous said...

This was absolutely fantastic. Added the nutritional yeast and peas and it was perfection. My husband doesn't like Alfredo, so I added some marinara to his and he had it blush style.

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!!

Kelsey said...

This was amazing! I've been craving alfredo for forever & other recipes I've tried had made me give up on ever having it again! My roommates, who aren't even huge fans of white sauces, think this is the best thing ever.

I threw in a tablespoon of nutritional yeast & a tablespoon of lemon juice, & half the amount of arrowroot & it was PERFECT. Thank you so much for enhancing my vegan life!

bianca said...

I just finished making this for Easter dinner for my all meat eating Italian family!! I'm not telling them its vegan till after its gone bahahs! Thanks!!

price per head said...

Hilariously cool. I have been looking for sites like this for a long time. Thank you my friend.

Unknown said...

The texture and thickness was perfect, however, I would add fresh chives and garlic to add more zest.