Could Lemon Florentine Spaghetti be my new signature dish?

You know, the dish that you make when you invite people around for dinner. Something that looks like a restaurant dish, tastes even better, and (this is the box that it needs to tick for me) is easy to make. And is on top of it all 100% plant based, so I don’t need to worry about any more or less fussy eaters.

My journey to a more plant-based diet

I’ve been thinking about more plant-based diet for quite a while now. Firstly, I have a few pretty vocal friends on Instagram who promote such eating habits rather fiercely. But even more than them, what sparked my curiosity about plant-based ideology were a few Netflix documentaries about the state of the Planet Earth. In Braking Boundaries, for example, narrated by Sir David Attenborough, he gives a relatively simple solution to help preserve our environment – eat more plant-based food.

I haven’t looked much deeper into it, read more on the topic, or researched whether this is entirely true and whether this is really the solution to our environmental problems. But I don’t think I have to. It’s a pretty common sense that eating more of the wholesome and more plant-based food can only be good for you (turning into a full vegan is something different and that would require a deeper study into how it would effect my body), and if this can contribute in any way to a healthier planet, then I’m all in.

Easier said than done

I would lie if I said that I just opened my eyes one day and haven’t eaten any animal products ever since. No, I’ve been trying for a while, and failing a lot, succumbing to temptations of cheese or salmon and even tenderly barbecued venison in my friend’s backyard.

Last year, my partner and I went on a six months trip around Europe. We were driving around the continent, from Slovenia, up to Denmark and all the way to the south of Spain. We were new to the European supermarkets and had to find our new favourite brands of food (unlike when you are at home and you always buy the same brand of cheese or yoghurt or pasta for example, the one that you’ve tried hundreds of times and you know it’s good). Instead of looking all over Carrefours, we focused more on a plant-based sections of the supermarkets. And we have found some seriously delicious food items and brands.

We, however, didn’t only eat vegan or plant-based foods. We happily indulged in a traditional cheese fondue in the Swiss village of Gruyere, endless croissants and pains au chocolate on the French riviera, or fish tapas in Spanish Andalucia. But in between, we opted for vegan meal options.

Once we returned to New Zealand, and were living back in our house with fully equipped kitchen, the plant-based food choices became even easier to make. I have surrounded myself with a few different vegan cookbooks (Vegan Goodness, Vegan, But I Could Never Go Vegan, and even The Mindful Vegan), a vegan recipes app (Plantiful), and am scrolling with more enthusiasm through the posts of my vegan friends. And we are slowly finding our grounds, balancing plant-based and other foods – Shaun for example loves cheese, but is happy to replace cow’s milk with oat milk, we have fun making our own sushi with fresh fish from the local fish shop (we are lucky to live right by the ocean), I also tried to make french crepes with no eggs, but I did this only once and will not try again :).

So, what is this Lemon Florentine Spaghetti?

I was scrolling through the Plantiful app in search for vegan meal ideas, and stumbled across a recipe for Lemon Florentine Spaghetti. I loved the name. The photo of the dish they used in the app looked great. And it only requires 10 min for preparation and 10 min for cooking. I was sold!

When served, Shaun was equally impressed by my creation. He loved the presentation. And he loved the taste – it’s quite strong as one would expect when using white one, sun-dried tomatoes and cashew nuts, but simply delicious.

So, what is it and how I made it?

To prepare the cashew sauce, put all the following ingredients in a high speed blender. Mix it well. Don’t worry if it’s too runny as it will thicken later on when being cooked.

• 1 cup cashews (soaked overnight or left in a boiling water for at least 30min)
• 1 1/4 cup water
• 3 TBSP lemon juice
• 1/2 TBSP nutritional yeast (optional)
• 1/2 TSP salt (to taste)

When the sauce is ready, warm a large skillet over medium heat. Add one medium yellow onion (finely chopped) and cook it for a few minutes in a splash or two of water, stirring occasionally. Add 4 cloves of garlic (minced), and cook some more. Again, add more water if needed.

Add 1 cup white wine and cook until it has reduced by about half. Then pour in the previously prepared cashew sauce, 4 cups spinach and 5 piece sun-dried tomatoes in oil (chopped). Stir until spinach is wilted and the sauce has thickened up.

Cook spaghetti (or any other pasta, it also goes well with rice) and pour the sauce over. Garnish with fresh basil, black pepper and nutritional yeast (optional). And enjoy!