You can make rich creamy sauces without dairy! This sauce slightly tastes like cheese and the secret ingredient is white miso. It is also nice to make this pasta with mushrooms, brussel sprouts, turnip, spinach, broccoli, asparagus—any vegetables that go with a creamy sauce.
Ingrediants - Serves 4
5 stalks silverbeet (swiss chard)
400g (14oz) fettucine or gluten-free fettucine
2 teaspoons cornflour (cornstarch)
2 teaspoons water
400ml (14fl oz) soymilk
2 tablespoons white miso
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons garlic, chopped
Fresh corn kernels from one cob or 1 small tin
1 teaspoon sea salt
Black pepper
1. Using a sharp knife and working from the stem end of the silverbeet towards leaf end, strip leaves from stems. Roughly chop leaves. Trim stems and slice diagonally.
2. Cook pasta in a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water until it is al dente. Add the silverbeet leaves just before you finish cooking the pasta, to blanch.
3. Meanwhile, combine the cornflour and water and set aside.
4. Combine soymilk and white miso and mix well. Set aside.
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan over low heat and add garlic; sauté until you can smell the aroma. Add the silverbeet stalks, corn and salt and cook over medium-high heat for 3 minutes or until the silverbeet is almost cooked.
6. Add the soymilk mixture and bring to the boil. Add the cornflour mixture (mix very well just before adding) and cook until sauce gets thick.
7. Add the pasta and leaves into the pan and toss well.
8. Season to taste.
9. Serve with generous amount of cracked pepper.
Tip
Do not boil the sauce for too long otherwise it will split and lose the miso goodness.
White miso is supposed to be sweet but I have found lots of salty white miso in my travels. Some have the wrong labelling or are simply too old (matured), so check the label before you buy. The tip is to find white miso with a light yellow colour!
If you are not sure which white miso is real, buy saikyo miso. It is a bit sweeter than white miso but it is better than unwanted surprises!
Gluten-free option: For a gluten-free option, use gluten-free pasta.