Okay so this recipe obviously doesn’t use real mascarpone, this being a vegan recipe blog, but I had to use that term here because it’s exactly what I had in mind when making this dish. A rich pasta sauce made from vegan cream cheese, complimented by classic Italian flavours like garlic and sun-dried tomato.
Sun-Dried Tomato Mascarpone Spaghetti
Creamy tomato sauce folded through soft spaghetti with vegan chicken chunks, fresh cherry tomatoes and spinach. A quick yet delectable weeknight dinner.
Ingredients
- 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small white onion diced
- 3-4 mushrooms sliced
- 5-6 cherry tomatoes halved
- 2 vegan chicken pieces bite-size - see notes
- 1 large garlic clove crushed
- 250 g spaghetti enough for 2
- 1 heaped tbsp vegan cream cheese see notes
- 2 heaped tsp sun-dried tomato paste
- 200 ml non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- Handful of spinach leaves
- 1-2 tbsp vegan parmesan grated - see notes
Method
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Put a large saucepan of salted water on to boil.
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Heat the oil in a frying pan on medium-high and add the onion. Sauté the onion for a couple of minutes before adding the mushrooms, tomatoes and chicken pieces. Sauté for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice, before adding the crushed garlic. Cook for another 5 minutes until the chicken and tomatoes have charred slightly.
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Put your spaghetti (250g) on to boil.
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Add the cream cheese (1 heaped tbsp), sun-dried tomato paste (2 heaped tsp) and milk (200ml) to a blender and blend until combined. Add to the frying pan and season with salt and black pepper (1 tsp each).
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Strain the pasta and add to the frying pan with a handful of spinach.
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Toss everything together well and warm through for another 1-2 minutes until sauce has thickened slightly.
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Dish up into two pasta bowls and top with grated vegan parmesan.
Recipe Notes
I used the Quorn Vegan Fillets for this recipe but these can be a bit tricky to find as they are still new, so I would recommend using vegan chicken pieces such as Tofurky's Slow Roasted Lightly Seasoned Chick'n or similar which are more easily available.
For the cheese alternatives in this recipe I used the Sheese Creamy Original Spread and the Violife Prosociano vegan Parmesan.
