Easy Vegan Tomato Cream Pasta

From Oh She Glows

Are you pesto-ed out?
Friday night I decided to organize my recipe page into categories and I saw that I had four pesto recipes! I knew I had a few and will probably have a few more ;)
We are almost at the peak of basil season right now so my favorite herb is plentiful. This recipe uses a cup of fresh basil and let me tell you it was amazing! I will be making this again and again. It is incredibly quick and easy also...which is an added bonus!

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

• 8 ounces of whole grain pasta
• 2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup of cashews, raw or unsalted
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1 Tbsp of tomato paste (I used 1 Tbsp tomato sauce with success)
• 1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced (use less if you don't love garlic)
• 1 tsp of salt, more or less to taste
• 3-4 Tbsp of  pasta water (or water or wine)
• 1/2-1 tsp of pepper, more or less to taste
• 1 cup of packed fresh basil, chopped

Method

1. Cook pasta according to package directions. Saving about 4 Tbsp of pasta water.
2. While pasta is cooking, place tomatoes, cashews, 1/4 cup of water, and tomato paste in a blender. Process until smooth. Set aside.
3. Heat olive oil in a medium skillet and add garlic. Cook 1 minutes or until fragrant then add blended tomato sauce mixture. Add salt then simmer sauce for 4 minutes. While sauce is simmering you can add pasta water, water, or wine in order to thin sauce slightly.
4. Remove pasta sauce from heat and stir in chopped basil and 1/2-1 tsp of black pepper or to taste.
5. Add pasta sauce to cooked and drained hot pasta and serve immediately. Enjoy!