Last week, I mentioned plans to make Bryant Terry’s rigatoni with sunchoke-tomato sauce. Well, that didn’t happen. I visited three grocery stores to procure the ingredients but failed to find one crucial item: sunchokes. So I prepared roasted red beets and sautéed beet greens with creamy polenta instead.
But I was determined to recreate Bryant’s pasta dish. After breakfast yesterday, I headed to the College of San Mateo Farmers’ Market to continue my search for sunchokes. They were nowhere to be seen. Apparently, the root vegetable isn’t in season until fall.
I was crushed – and motivated to press on. With a few tweaks (namely, subbing in celeriac for sunchokes), I finally completed the culinary mission. The result? This rigatoni with vegan tomato cream sauce. While it doesn’t stay true to the original recipe, the primo piatto is utterly delicious.
Recipe adapted from Vegetable Kingdom.
- ¼ cup raw cashews
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ cup finely diced celeriac
- ¼ cup finely diced yellow onion
- 1 tablespoon brown rice flour
- 1 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon white wine
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 cup diced white onion
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 14.5 oz. can crushed tomatoes
- ¾ cup water
- 1 pound rigatoni
- sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- chopped fresh parsley (optional, for garnish)
- Place cashews in a small bowl and cover with cold water; let stand at room temperature for at least 4 hours or overnight. Drain well and transfer to a food processor.
- In a medium sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add celeriac and cook for 1 minute. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, 3-5 minutes.
- Add brown rice flour and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
- Add vegetable broth, wine and salt; stir and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.
- Transfer mixture to the food processor with the cashews and purée until smooth. Set aside.
- In a medium sauce pan, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to brown, 6-8 minutes. Add garlic and salt and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Add tomato paste and cook, stirring constantly, for 1 minute.
- Add tomatoes and water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.
- Add vegan cream and cook until heated through, 1-2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta until al dente according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking liquid.
- Add sauce to pasta and toss to coat. Add some of the reserved cooking liquid if pasta seems dry. Garnish with parsley, if using, and serve immediately.
