Vegan broccoli pasta with chick’n

Sometimes all you are after at the end of a long day is a quick and comforting meal so I thought I would share one of my go to pastas with you. It never stays the same as it’s flexible and I have a tendency to tinker (I guess that’s why I ended up doing THIS for a living), but the gist of it is the same – vegan broccoli pasta in a simple creamy sauce with soy-based chick’n.

I like to use small pasta shapes like orecchiette or conchiglie for this, alongside at least one green vegetable – tenderstem broccoli in this instance and some kind of meat substitute to add another texture and make it more satisfying. While I tend to follow wholefood plant based diet (beans, nuts, fruit and veg) and I’m not big on commercially available meat substitutes, I do make an exception for a couple of products we particularly enjoy. They add variety to our meals and are close enough to what we enjoyed eating as omnivores that we don’t feel like we are missing out at all.

After you have not had meat for a long time (9 years in our case), you don’t really remember what it tasted like exactly so a close approximation of the texture and flavour you used to enjoy is good enough. And just to be clear – as I do know that some people cannot wrap their heads around the fact that some vegans seek foods imitating meat, dairy or eggs – many vegans, myself including, don’t go vegan because they dislike meat, they go vegan because they don’t want to be the cause of animal suffering.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

PASTA: I made this dish with all kinds of pasta but small shapes like orecchiette or conchiglie are my favourites. I often use wholewheat pasta instead of plain for added satiety and nutrition.

BROCCOLI: I love broccoli, especially tenderstem broccoli (known as broccolini in some parts of the world) and we eat it several times a week in pastas, stir-fries, simple veggie bowls. Tenderstem broccoli is a cross between regular broccoli and Chinese broccoli and as the name suggests it takes much less time to cook. You can use regular broccoli divided into small florets too, of course. The key is not to overcook them be vigilant. You want them cooked but still retaining a little bit of crunch (texture), not turning into mash in your mouth.

VEGAN CHICK’N: I like using soy-based vegan chick’n in this dish. My favourite brand so far is What the Cluck by The Vegetarian Butcher although I like to go an extra mile and coat it my chick’n seasoning after frying. If chicken substitutes are not your thing or you simply haven’t found one you like, use firm smoked tofu instead. I explain how below. I also sometimes make this dish with vegan bacon (like in this recipe except it needs baking for 5-10 minutes longer)

VEGAN CREAM: There are a lot of good vegan creams on the market, based on oats, soy and almond – to name just a few. I used Oatly single cream. If shop-bought cream isn’t available, create your own by blitzing 130 g / 1 cup of raw cashews (or hulled sunflower seeds for nut-free option) with 180 ml (¾ cup) of water and use that instead.

GARLIC: Finely diced garlic pan-fried gently in olive oil is what infuses the sauce with a lot of flavour. Take your time with this step and keep the flame low as you don’t want the garlic to brown – it will make your dish taste bitter.

LEMON: Most creamy pastas, cream dishes in general, cry out for a splash of acid to cut through the richness. I like to add a good squeeze of lemon juice to the sauce and some lemon zest too to reinforce fresh lemony flavour.

CHICK’N SPICE: While some chicken substitutes come seasoned and you could use them straight from a packet, I like to add my own seasoning. This simple spice mix, comes together in seconds and I adds a lot of flavour in my opinion – it also makes for tasty pan-grits (Duncan’s favourite bit). Below is a visual to show you what you’ll need at a glance.

Pan-fry your chick’n until golden brown and crispy first, then turn the heat off and toss it around in my spice mix to infuse it with more flavour.

I like to use small pasta shapes for this dish, like orecchiette and tenderstem broccoli. To save on washing up, I cook broccoli in the same water I cook pasta. You could cook them both at the same time by adding broccoli to cooking pasta for the last few minutes of cooking time, but I prefer to first cook the broccoli and then pasta in the same cooking water. This gives me more control over the doneness of each element as overcooked broccoli or pasta is something I want to avoid.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What can I use instead of chicken substitute?

If you don’t get on with chicken substitutes, you can use firm tofu instead. I recommend smoked tofu! I press it, marinate in 20 ml / 4 tsp of soy sauce (or tamari for GF option), coat in cornstarch and pan-fry as per the recipe, coating it with my spice mix at the very end.

Alternatively, you could go for almond bacon as I’ve done in this recipe before or tofu bacon as in that one (although you’ll need to bake it for 5-10 minutes longer to get it crispy)

What can I use instead of vegan cream?

Create plant-based cream at home by blitzing 130 g / 1 cup of raw cashews (or hulled sunflower seeds for nut-free option) with 180 ml (¾ cup) of water and use that instead. Be sure to soak your cashews in boiling water for at least 20 minutes before blending – soaking helps to soften them and produces better texture. If you want to keep it budget friendly or nut-free, use hulled sunflower seeds in exactly the same way.