Chloe’s Mac and Greens

This recipe comes from vegan chef Chloe Coscarelli. She made this recipe on an episode of the Today Show. It is a fantastic recipe; easy, healthy, and fast. I use a blender and a food processor for this recipe. It serves 4 to 6 people.

Ingredients

• 1 pound pasta (Chloe uses conchiglie pasta)

• 1 cup raw, unsalted cashews

• 1 cup hot water

• 5 oz baby spinach

• 1+ cup Italian parsley (1 bunch)

• 1/4 cup olive oil

• 3 cloves garlic (peeled)

• 3+ tsp salt (2 tsp for pasta water, 1+ for the cashew sauce; I like a little less in the sauce so I use just 1 tsp)

• pepper to taste

• optional: pinch of red pepper flakes, vegan parmesan

Directions

1. Soak cashews in 1 cup of hot water for 10 minutes or more to soften

2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Add 1 tsp of salt to the cooking water before cooking. Drain pasta when done.

3. Tear off the top half of the parsley (some stems are OK). Put the parsley, washed spinach, and olive oil in the food processor and mix until blended (takes about 1 minute)

4. Put the softened cashews and the cashew water, garlic cloves, and salt in a high speed blender (like a Nutribullet) and blend until smooth (about 20 seconds).

5. Add the cashew sauce to the greens in the blender and mix together (30 seconds or so).

6. Add sauce to the cooked pasta and top with black pepper or red pepper flakes. You could also add some vegan parmesan if you want. I like it with just black pepper.

7. Enjoy!