Creamy Pasta Salad (ve, gf)

This pasta salad ticks all the boxes of a great Spring dinner; easy to cook, light but comforting and full of refreshing flavours. And, because this is a naturally wheat-free and gluten-free recipe, you avoid all the post-meal heaviness and bloating too.

As always, you can change this recipe to suit whatever is in your fridge and by changing the herbs and seasoning in the yogurt sauce you’ll end up with a number of variations for the same technique - the combinations are endless! We try and make sure that all our recipes follow this format because once you understand what should go on your plate, from a nutritional perspective, then it becomes easier to empower yourself to bring diversity to your diet.

We’ve used red lentil pasta here because, in my opinion, it has a better nutritional profile with a better balance between carbs and protein. Veg are generally higher in carbs than any other macronutrient so by bringing in protein where you can (e.g. by swapping for a protein rich pasta like lentil, chickpea, pea, etc, or adding beans like edamame, tofu, tempeh, etc) you ensure you’re meeting all your needs effortlessly.

Often, when we opt for a plant-based diet we’ll see a lot of swaps that are not a nutritional match like when you serve a cauliflower steak or a mushroom stroganoff for example without considering where your protein will come from. Even commercial substitutes (e.g. vegan “milk” and “cheese”) are not equivalent to the animal based products since their nutritional profile is very different. Vegan “cheese” that is made with a coconut oil base, for instance, is much higher in fat and lower in protein than cow or sheep’s cheese (I personally use cashew based “cheese” whenever I can) so it’s important that we’re aware of this when putting a meal together.

But, for now, if this sounds too tricky or complex, do not worry! Just follow the recipe below (as well as any of our other recipes) and trust we have taken care of that planning for you.

• Ingredients (for 4 people)

  • 250g red lentil pasta (or any other high protein pasta)

  • 1 small red onion

  • 150g cherry tomatoes

  • 300g smoked tofu (preferably organic)

  • 3tbsp olive oil

  • 2tsp garlic granules

  • 1tbsp tamari

  • 1 98g can of sweetcorn

  • 100g spinach

  • 200g oat yogurt

  • juice of 1/2 lemon

  • 1tbsp chives

  • salt and freshly ground pepper

• Method

  1. Boil a kettle. Cook the pasta as per the packaging instructions. Drain and set aside when ready.

  2. Trim, peel and thinly dice the onion. Halve the cherry tomatoes.

  3. Heat 2tbsp olive oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and sautée for 5 minutes on low heat until it’s translucent but not brown.

  4. Add the cherry tomatoes, increase the heat to medium and cook the tomatoes until they’re lightly blistered, for around 5minutes. If it starts to catch add a splash of water.

  5. Drain and pat dry the tofu. Cut into 2cm cubes. Add to the pan, season with the garlic powder, tamari, salt and pepper to taste. Stir together and cook until the tofu is golden on all sides.

  6. Drain and rinse the sweetcorn. Add to the pan together with the spinach and cook until the spinach is lightly wilted.

  7. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and mix everything together to combine. Transfer to a large serving bowl.

  8. Chop the chives. To a medium bowl, add the oat yogurt, lemon, chives, 1tbsp olive oil, 1tsp garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste and whisk together until you have a creamy sauce.

  9. Stir the sauce into the pasta and serve.

Hope you enjoy it and don’t forget to tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can see your recreations.