Cashew Cauliflower Alfredo

Ingredients

1 cup raw cashews (no need to soak)
1 med head white cauliflower, chopped
A handful of baby portabella mushrooms
1/4 small fennel bulb* + 1/2 tsp dried minced onion
1/4 tsp horseradish*
2 cups no-chicken or veggie broth
A few leaves or sprigs fresh herbs (thyme, oregano, and/or basil are good)
Heaping pinch of MSG (1 tsp?)
A crap ton of nutritional yeast (1/4 cup?)
Squirt of dijon mustard (1/2 tsp?)
A little squeeze of lemon (1 tbsp?)
2+ tbsp Treeline Riccota or Cream Cheese*
salt and black pepper to taste

Substitutions

Fennel: If you aren't avoiding onion, instead of or in addition to fennel you can just use 1/4 - 1/2 whole onion
Horseradish: If you aren't avoiding garlic, instead of or in addition to the horseradish you can use fresh garlic.
Treeline Cheese: This is the secret to making it cheesy. If you cant find Treeline cream or ricotta cheese, you can use Forager, Miyokos, Kite HIll. Any soft funky cultured non-dairy cheese.

Info

Time: ~30 minutes
Serves: Serves.....at least 8. Probably 12 or 16.

Equipment

POWERFUL high speed blender
Wide high-walled frying pan

Instructions

Saute the fennel, horseradish, and mushrooms in the pan until they're nicely browned.
Add cauliflower, cashews, herbs, MSG, nutritional yeast, mustard, and broth, and bring to a boil. Let it boil until the cauliflower is very tender and the cashews are so soft you can break them easily between your fingers. Like, 20-25 minutes.
Dump it all (including broth) into a high speed bender. Add a little lemon and the treeline cheese. Blend it on high for SEVERAL minutes. It should be silky smooth. Add more broth if it gets too thick. Taste for salt, pepper, and any extra lemon or cheese if it needs it.
Tada! Apply to pasta or freeze for later.

Bonus Recipe: Vegan Pasta Sauce From Any Veggie

You can make vegan pasta sauce from almost any veggies you have in your fridge. Root veg are particularly well-suited. The basic formula is:

20% Aromatic veggies -- fennel, onion, pepper, celery, tomato, etc
40% Hearty veggies -- cauliflower, carrots, beets, mushrooms, rutabaga, parsnips, squash
20% Protein -- Beans, nuts, and/or tofu
20% Everything Else:
- Something cheesy -- nutritional yeast, cultured non-dairy cheese
- Something savory -- soy sauce, worchestershire sauce, MSG
- Broth or plant milk
- Herbs, salt & pepper

Saute those ingredients in those vague ratios (do not measure. It does not matter), then dump it all into a high speed blender for several minutes, and you will have absolutely divine and surprisingly healthy pasta sauce almost every time.

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