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Spinach and caramelised onion pasta with walnut cream sauce and sage.
Tender, sweet onions, fresh spinach, crunchy, toasted walnuts, fragrant sage, and a creamy miso-walnut sauce come together in this flavour and texture-packed pasta. This vegan and oil-free dish is simple and quick to make, but trust me, your mouth will be watering as you cook this stuff (tell me I’m not the only one who could die for the smell of cooked onions). It’s perfect for week night dinners when you wan’t something little more special than the usual tomato sauce pasta, and it’s also delicious cold, so you can take the leftover with you the next day to work.
To be honest I rarely post a recipe, which I haven’t tested at least twice, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never posted a recipe, which I’ve just made about an hour ago, but guys, this pasta I had for lunch today is so amazingly awesome, I couldn’t wait and had to share with you right away. Okay, there is nothing groundbreaking in this recipe, the combination of walnuts, caramelised onions and sage is a pretty popular one, but still, it’s so so so good. And I know you’ll love this!
It’s actually also the celebration of my newly gained skill which is caramelising onions. This was the 5th time in a row that I made perfect sweet little onions without burning them, which means now I’m officially an expert, right? Yeah! Up until a few weeks ago it was always my boyfriend’s task to make these babies for me, because my level of patience is nearly zero. And the key to make superb caramelised onions and of course delicious caramelised onion pasta is definitely patience. So try to cook the onions as long as you can possibly stand it. And don’t turn the stove top to the highest temperature hoping the onions will cook faster. They won’t. They’ll burn. And learn to be more patient in life. I mean in general….You see, you thought I only have a recipe for you today, but you also got important life lessons from me. Isn’t it just cool?
If you try this recipe, let me know! I would highly appreciate if you could leave a comment and rate it. Also don’t forget to take a picture and tag it on Instagram (use the hashtag #greenevi) or post it on Facebook! I love seeing what you come up with! ♥︎
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Spinach & Caramelised Onion Pasta
- Total Time: 20 mins
- Yield: 4 1x
Ingredients
- 350 g/12 oz pasta of your choice (I used a GF fusilli)
- 4 large onions
- 3 cups of fresh spinach
- handful of chopped toasted walnuts
For the walnut cream:
- 1/2 cup of walnuts
- 1,5 tsp white miso paste
- 1,5 tsp tomato paste
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1 lemon, juice
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 clove of garlic
- 5 fresh sage leaves
- pepper
Instructions
- Prepare pasta according to package instructions.
- Meanwhile add walnuts, miso, tomato paste, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, sage and pepper to a blender with about 1/2 cup of water and blend until completely smooth.
- Slice onions thinly. Place them in a saucepan and sauté over medium heat for about 10 minutes or until they turn brown and translucent. Stir frequently and add 1-2 tablespoons of water at a time to prevent sticking. You can also use 1-2 tablespoons of vegan butter if you prefer.
- Add spinach, walnut cream and drained pasta and stir well to combine. Cook for one more minute and season with salt and pepper.
- Serve with toasted walnuts on top. Enjoy!
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
- Category: Main
- Cuisine: Vegan
Yummm! Babe this looks so good!!! Perfect recipe! And I could totally make this GF like you suggested!! Also, that’s so great that it’s amazing cold too! Perfect for the next day! Thanks for sharing Evi!
Xoxo Cailee!
Thank you so much, Cailee 🙂
I’m glad you posted so soon! It looks amazing! I love the taste of caramelized onions and the walnut creme sounds fabulous!
Thanks, Rebecca! Caramelised onions are amazing little treasures 😉
What a beautiful comfort meal, Evi! Lots of caramelized onions – yes please, count me in!:) Sometimes I caramelize fennel instead of onions, and this is hearty too. And with this walnut sauce? Yes please! Oh, did I say this already?:)
Thanks, Ben! I’m a big fan of fennel, so next time I’ll surely try this with caramelised fennels 🙂
Okay, but your food describing game is ON-POINT, Evi! 😉 I was just reading the first paragraph, eating my oatmeal… minding my business. And suddenly, I got super, super hungry. Could it be the tender onions? The crunchy walnuts? The creamy miso-walnut sauce?? I could faint from hunger right now, though. Lol. Also, I am also a HUGE fan of cooked onions… that scent just makes everything better. 🙂
You, my dear, are now the Official Expert of Caramelizing Onions. Allow me to hand you your official badge. Yes, it is shaped like an actual onion. 😉
Pinning, of course! Have a great weekend, my friend. xo
Thank you, Demeter! I hope that badge is not just some random internet one, but I can soonish expect a real life badge in my post box 😉
BTW how cool you also love the smell of onions! I thought everybody loves them, but when you google onion smell, the first 10 pages are just about complaining people who say they hate it…whaaaaat?
Lolol. Of course not!! This badge has to be custom-made, by the most skilled badge makers in the world. ???? I LOVE that you googled that. Hahahaha. The smells just gets my stomach rumbling, ya know? Well, maybe it’s not great for a date, but who cares? Haha.
Hmm… for some reason my laughing emoji came out as “????” Fascinating!
Yes, something is wrong with my comment section, I also can’t post emojis…..really annoying….
Luckily both our relationships are over the ‘dating’ phase and we can eat as much onions and garlic as we’d love to 😀
Such a lovely looking comfy and delicious platter. I love how beautifully you have paired caramelised onions with crunchy walnut and spinach. Thanks for this wonderful share! 🙂
Thank you so much, Anu 🙂
This looks so good, I love caramelized onions and spinach, add them to pasta and yum! You’re absolutely right about being patient in life, and in cooking. You can’t hurry great food.
Thanks, Linda!
I guess at the end we would do anything for great food 😀
Oh my Lanta! This dish was bursting with flavor. Miso paste was difficult to find. I used Kikkoman brand Miso Soup mix to substitute. I used kale instead of spinach. Fabulous dish! I have enough lunches for 10 days. Thank you for sharing.
Hi Amanda,
I’m so glad to hear you liked it (although let’s see if you still enjoy it after 10 days 😄)!
Kale sounds like a great addition, gonna try it next time, thanks for the idea.
Do I need to soak the walnuts? Or just straight to the blender?
Hi! I usually don’t soak the walnuts here, that way the texture of the cream is more like a pesto. However if you prefer a smooth sauce you can also soak them first 🙂