Hello lovelies, sunny Easter days are just around the corner and I have the matching recipe for you: creamy spring pasta with asparagus and tofu. Of course this pasta dish also tastes wonderful right after Easter and I can tell you, it was very well received by my family. A delicious, creamy sauce with a slight taste of lemon and garlic, with spaghetti and asparagus, shallots and smoked tofu from the oven. I created the dish in repeated collaboration with my favorite tofu brand: Taifun Tofu*.
You already know how much I love their tofu, especially all smoked versions like Tofu with sesame and almonds and of course “Black Forest Tofu”. I find the classic smoked tofu most suitable for this pasta dish, because it gets really crispy in the oven and its flavor gives a nice contrast to the creamy sauce.
Tofu, asparagus and shallots are baked in the oven. This gives them a delicious roasted flavor and the lemon also comes into its own very well. In addition, it‘s of course very practical that you can simply mix everything on a baking tray.
Thanks to the cashews, the sauce gets very creamy and is so easy to make, since all the ingredients for the sauce only have to be mixed in a blender. Then heat it up in a pan, add the cooked spaghetti and, if necessary, some pasta water (this provides extra creaminess) and your sauce is ready.
Recipe
And now here is the recipe for the creamy spring pasta with asparagus and tofu:
Creamy spring pasta with asparagus and tofu
Equipment
- Baking oven
- Mixer/Blender
Ingredients
Asparagus & tofu
- 300 gr (10.5 oz) green asparagus (or asparagus tips)
- 200 gr (7 oz.) classic smoked tofu from Taifun Tofu
- 1 shallot
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- Zest & juice of 1 organic lemon
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 2-3 pinches of pepper
- 1/2 tsp cane sugar
- 1 tsp garlic powder optional
Sauce
- 100 gr (3.5 oz.) cashews soaked in water over night
- Juice of 1/2 lemon
- 1-2 garlic cloves
- 1-2 tsp nutritional yeast optional
- 1 tsp salt
- 200 ml (1 cup) water
Also:
- 250 gr (9 oz.) spaghetti
Instructions
Asparagus & tofu
- Wash the asparagus, cut off the wooden ends and chop them (if you have asparagus tips you don’t need to cut off anything) depending on their size cut them in halves
- Chop the classic smoked Taifun tofu in stripes or dices
- Finely chop the shallots in dices – place everything on a baking tray
- Preheat the oven to 200°C (392°F)
- Mix oil, zest and juice of a lemon and the spices for the marinade
- Pour it over asparagus, tofu and shallots and mix well
- Bake for 25-30 minutes until everything is crispy, tlip it after some time
Sauce
- Soak the cashews in water over night (in case you forgot to do so, soak them in hot water for 15-30 minutes)
- Rinse the cashews – put all ingredients into a blender and mix until it’s a smooth sauce
- Cook the spaghetti according to the packet instructions, rinse them but keep some of the pasta water
- Put the cashew sauce into a pan, slightly heat it up, add the spaghetti and if it’s too thick, add a little pasta water
- Serve the pasta on a plate and add the asparagus and tofu from the oven on top
- Top with rocket salad, cress and roasted pine nuts
My family really liked the spaghetti, even though they usually all favor tomato like sauces, but here I was unanimously told that I should cook this again soon. The addition of the lemon makes the dish really spring-like and asparagus are the absolute spring vegetables anyway.
The creamy spring pasta with asparagus and tofu fits perfectly for the coming Easter days and will definitely make it back to our table. Have you ever tried cashew-based pasta sauces? I can only recommend it to you, it‘s so simple and reminds me of an Alfredo sauce. It’s not as heavy as a cream sauce though. You can of course use less garlic if you don't like so much of it.
I hope I was able to inspire you for your Easter menu, most of you have noodles at home, I assume. Hopefully you will also get the Taifun tofu, we never run out of it! You can find more dishes, that I have already created with Taifun Tofu here.
How about Easter with this delicious cheese cake, or this spring salad with pistachio tofu – and maybe you fancy stick bread with the kids, there is already a recipe for that here.
Wishing you all a very happy Easter – even though it may look a little different for all of us this year.
Love, Verena
If you have Pinterest, you can find me here and you can pin one of these pictures if you like:
*This blog post was created in collaboration with Taifun Tofu – the recipes are my own.
This post is also available in: deutsch
