Raw Zucchini "Pasta" with "Alfredo" Sauce, Vegan Apple-Sage Sausage, Sungold Tomatoes

A few days ago, a friend brought over a huge zucchini from her garden. I thought that it would be fun to make a raw "pasta", since my wife enjoys most of her non-dinner meals raw. I did a little searching online and found a simple recipe (that took literally 15m or so to make!) online called Alfredo Sauce and Zucchini Noodles.

It was so easy to make. We don't have a food spiralizer, but I just used a simple shredder. I guessed that a 5" or so length of zucchini would make for a good "pasta", so cut the zucchini 5" from the end and grated it.

For the sauce, I pretty much followed the recipe that I found. I took a cup of raw cashews and soaked them for 15m (the recipe suggested 30m). I drained and put the soaked cashews into our VitaMix blender, along with a garlic clove, juice of a small lime, half a cup of water, a half tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast, and a dash of salt. I blended on high for maybe 15 seconds till nice and creamy - and that was it! The sauce tasted surprisingly rich and tasty.

I served the sauce atop the noodles, with some freshly ground black pepper. I also lightly sauteed a vegan Field Roast Grain Meat Company apple-sage artisanal vegan sausage (so it wasn't a raw meal, but that wasn't my goal) and briefly heated some pine nuts. I sprinkled the nuts atop the pasta dish and served the sausage to the side.

My wife loved the meal (I liked it, too!) and told me that she had only had Alfredo sauce once and hated it. I realized that I've never had this sauce - and don't even know what it really is. Hmm.... let me check online ... it looks like it is a cream - Parmesan cheese - butter sauce -- yikes, how fatty that sounds! So, I don't know how a traditional Alfredo sauce is supposed to taste, but I enjoyed our meal!

My favorite tomatoes are Sungold - they're so sweet! They rounded out the meal. We're hosting a party at a restaurant tomorrow, but I should be cooking again on Monday.