Cooking question

Is there any kind of pasta sauce that has no tomatoes, dairy, vinegar, or oil?

(Pesto usually has cheese in it, and too much oil.)

4 thoughts on “Cooking question”

are you making it yourself? you can take fresh basil (and spinach, or really any green leafy thing you like the taste of) and garlic and mash it all together in a mortar&pestle so it is a bit coarse. You can add a bit of the pasta water to it instead of oil and then toss it with the pasta. I do this when I want a less fatty pesto. If you can use a little bit of oil, you can add it to the pasta and then toss the coarsebasilgarlicmess with it.

this is tasty, but has a small amount of oil, this as well, has a bit of oil (I used less when I made it). Maybe browse that site though? Good luck!

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Is lemon juice out? And do you mean just oil, or fat of any kind? I make my own pasta sauces fairly frequently, and I use tahini as a base. Whole wheat pasta with vegetables (whatever’s handy), tahini, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and maybe some nuts is surprisingly good, but tahini and huts are both high in (healthy) fat.

If you need something completely fat-free, try mixing some lemon juice, some salt, a few hot pepper rings or flakes, some minced garlic, and some shredded basil (fresh leaves). It’ll be sharp, but the basil will lend some sweetness. You won’t get pesto’s creaminess, because you’d need oil to create the emulsion, but the oil-free version would be nice and light.

I’ve also got a vegan primavera recipe, but it’s cooked in olive oil. I suppose you could use Pam (if that’s allowed) and treat the vegetables more carefull. Thinly slice some carrots, some zucchini and/or yellow squash, and some onions, and pan fry them in a very small amount of oil or a spritz of Pam until the onion is translucent. Add salt, pepper, and minced garlic and cook until you can smell the garlic. Immediately remove from heat. Toss with angel hair or another thin pasta, and add some bell pepper strips and (if allowed) some sliced olives. I keep thinking that there’s more to this, but you’ve got the basic ingredients. Other veg can be added as desired. The carrots really add a lot of flavour and a punch of sweetness.

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Ooh, I didn’t know pesto was possible like that, thanks!

A little bit of oil is okay. Nuts are pretty much out… lemon juice is maybe okay in small amounts.

Yes, I could do Pam veggies… I just don’t think they’ll make enough flavor. I was looking for sauce-like things for that reason. I’m pretty flexible on diet now, but one of the toughest categories is the generic “sauce”. I’m eating a lot of food plain. Which is okay, but sometimes I want sauce.

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