Italian Chicken Sausage with Cappello's Gluten Free Fettuccini in Homemade Spinach, Basil, Avocado Cream Sauce
The allusive creamy pesto sauce made out of avocado has long since escaped me. I tried it once years ago when I saw it on OhSheGlows but it never turned out quite right, the leaves were always staying whole and the texture was weird. I recently saw this Instagram postby @_courtcooks_ and it inspired me to try again. So I did, and I think I figured out the trick. All along I was using my Vitamix on of the highest blending settings and as it turns out, I just needed to turn it down a notch! Once I did that, the consistency really smoothed out, but the real secret was adding a splash of my homemade almond milk for that silky texture.
One last aside, I had a half a bag of spinach that was literally just reaching its expiration and I really DID NOT want to throw it out (remember: FOOD WASTE is real and here's another way you can use up your spinach), so I figured this would be an easy way to incorporate it into my meal without having to dirty a whole other pan to cook it on its own! Genius right?
What I Used (for one person):
- 1/2 package of Cappello's GF Fettuccini
- 2 Italian Chicken Sausages
- 1/2 bag of spinach (it was leftover from last week and hitting its expiration!)
- 1/2 a small container of basil leaves
- 4 cloves of garlic (I roasted them in the oven with olive oil to cut the sharpness, I did it while meal prepping other roasted veggies)
- a splash of my homemade almond milk
- A big pinch of salt
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1 large avocado
- Oil of choice (I use grapeseed) for the sauce
How to:
- For the sausages, simply put them in a pyrex baking dish or on a foil lined baking sheet, drizzle with oil and roast at 400 for about 35-45 minutes flipping halfway through
- For the sauce: Add the spinach, basil, garlic, salt and lemon juice to your blender then add a liberal pour of oil to get it started. Blend on medium/pulse occasionally adding more oil if needed to get to a pesto like consistency. Then add your splash of almond milk and avocado and finish blending until totally smooth,
- Add the sauce to your pasta as soon as it's done cooking and serve hot. No need to even add in other greens because you just ate a half a bag of spinach with your pasta!!! But if you want some crunch broccolini would be nice!
For other Cappello's pasta ideas check out this lasagna, this gnocchi, and this seafood fettuccini!
As a BONUS click here for my homemade vegan kale pesto!
