Vegan Alfredo Sauce -- Another Kind of Foundation, for the Nights After the Feast

Back from the honeymoon. Back to Bay View. Back to the apartment that now belongs to Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski, which is a sentence I will never tire of writing. The apartment is the same — tiny kitchen, Tom's old couch, books everywhere — but it feels different. Everything feels different when you come home married. The toothbrush in the bathroom isn't your girlfriend's. It's your wife's. The coffee mug on the counter isn't your fiancée's. It's your wife's. The word "wife" is new and enormous and I keep rolling it around in my mouth like a candy.

Back to the brewery. The head brewer greeted me with, "The sours survived." Steve did a good job. The barrels are fine. The taproom is fine. Everything ran without me, which is both reassuring and slightly insulting. You want to be needed. You don't want to be needed so badly that things fall apart. It's a balance.

The wedding aftermath is still rolling in — cards, gifts, photos from the photographer (not the final ones, the previews). Every photo makes Megan cry. Every photo of the basilica, of the first dance, of Tom and Patrick arguing about something at the bar. My favorite so far: a candid of Megan and Linda in the kitchen at the Polish Center, laughing about something, flour on Linda's cheek. Two women who love each other because they love me. The best photo from the best day.

Made our first married dinner at home: Babcia's pierogi, the potato and cheese. Not because we needed a feast. Because the first meal I cook in our kitchen as a husband should be the meal that started everything. The meal Babcia taught me. The meal I brought to our first date in a Tupperware. The meal that 180 people ate at our wedding. The foundation. Always the foundation.

Babcia’s pierogi were the right first meal — they always will be — but married life is also every Tuesday after that, every tired weeknight when you want something warm and homemade without the flour on every surface. This vegan alfredo is what Megan and I reach for on those nights: a sauce that comes together fast, coats the pasta like something your grandmother would approve of, and feels, in its own quiet way, like another kind of foundation.

Vegan Alfredo Sauce

Prep Time: 10 min | Cook Time: 15 min | Total Time: 25 min | Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 cup raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours (or 30 minutes in boiling water), drained
• 3/4 cup unsweetened plain oat milk (or other plant-based milk)
• 1/2 cup reserved pasta cooking water, plus more as needed
• 3 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
• 12 ounces fettuccine or pasta of your choice, cooked according to package directions
• Fresh parsley, chopped, for serving

Instructions

1. Soak the cashews. Place raw cashews in a bowl and cover with cold water. Soak for at least 2 hours, then drain and rinse. For a quick version, cover with boiling water and soak 30 minutes, then drain.
2. Cook the pasta. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions. Before draining, reserve 1/2 cup of the starchy cooking water. Drain and set pasta aside.
3. Sauté the garlic. Heat olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 1 to 2 minutes until fragrant and just golden. Remove from heat.
4. Blend the sauce. Add the drained cashews, oat milk, nutritional yeast, sautéed garlic (with any oil from the pan), lemon juice, onion powder, salt, and white pepper to a high-speed blender. Blend on high for 60 to 90 seconds until completely smooth and creamy. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of pasta water and blend again to loosen if needed.
5. Bring it together. Pour the blended sauce into the skillet over low heat. Add the cooked pasta directly to the pan and toss to coat, adding reserved pasta water a splash at a time until the sauce reaches your preferred consistency. Taste and adjust salt and pepper.
6. Serve. Divide among bowls, top with fresh parsley, and serve immediately. A crack of black pepper over the top never hurts.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 480 | Protein: 16g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 65g | Fiber: 4g | Sodium: 310mg