Spicy Cajun Pasta

Cajun food is one of my favorite types of cuisine; it's very flavorful and comforting to me. I've always found it a little difficult to find vegetarian Cajun food as most of it is seafood based. So I've been coming up with my own vegetarian based recipes when I think of an idea. This particular dish was inspired by the Beyond Meat sausage. I've used the sausage in brunch dishes in the past, but I wanted to try them in a pasta so I decided to try making my own Cajun flavored sauce.

I've made it this dish with penne pasta and I've also made it with fresh pasta that we've made at home and the Cajun sauce went with both pastas.

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Spicy Cajun Pasta

Ingredients:

- Cajun cream sauce (See recipe below)

- 8 oz of boiled penne, or whichever pasta you'd prefer ( I used Raos Homemade Penne Rigate)

- 1/2 red onion sliced

- 1/2 red bell pepper sliced

- 1/2 yellow or orange bell pepper sliced

- 1/2 green bell pepper sliced

- Any other veggies you'd like to add

- 2 - 3 Beyond Meat sausages sliced (grilled preferably)

- Salt and pepper to taste

- 1 tsp of minced garlic

- 1 tbsp of EVOO

- Minced curly parsley to sprinkle on top (optional)

- Shredded parmesan to sprinkle on top (optional)

Directions

1 - Heat up the EVOO in a non-stick pot or a wok over medium heat, and throw in the minced garlic and let it sizzle for about 30 seconds

2 - Add the onions, peppers, and other veggies and sauté for about 3-4 minutes until they are tender

3 - Add a pinch of salt and pepper and mix

4 - Add Cajun sauce and mix

5 - Add pasta and mix

6 - Add sliced sausages and mix them in the pasta

7 - Serve warm and sprinkle with minced parsley and shredded parmesan and enjoy!

Note: You can also add shrimp or any other type of sausage to the dish by cooking it or grilling it separately with Cajun seasoning, and then add it on top of the pasta.

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Cajun Sauce

Ingredients:

- 1/2 red onion sliced

- 1/2 red bell pepper sliced

- 1/2 yellow or orange bell pepper sliced

- 1/2 green bell pepper sliced

- 2 serrano peppers sliced

- 1/2 habanero pepper diced

- 2 cloves of garlic minced

- 2 - 3 tbsp of all purpose flour

- 1 cup of vegetable broth

- 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream

- 2 tbsp of butter

- 2 - 3 springs of sliced green onions

- 3 - 4 sprigs of chopped curly parsley

- 1 tsp of lemon juice

- 1 tsp of Cajun seasoning

- 1/2 cup of white cheddar cheese

- 2 tbsp of EVOO or canola oil

- salt to taste

Directions

1 - Heat the EVOO or canola oil in a non-stick sauce pan over medium heat and add the peppers and onions to sauté for about 5 minutes until they are soft

2 - Add garlic and a pinch of salt

3 - Add butter and mix it until its all melted

4 - Add flour and mix

5 - Add 1/2 of the vegetable broth and mix

6 - Transfer mixture in a blender or a container to blend it in

7 - In the mixture, add parsley, green onions, lemon juice, and the rest of the vegetable broth and blend it all together

8 - Transfer mixture back into the sauce pan and warm it up

9 - Add cajun seasoning and mix

10 - Add whipping cream and cheese and mix

11 - Adjust consistency using vegetable broth to make it thinner, if necessary, or cheese if you'd like to make it thicker

12 - Adjust salt later after pasta is made, if needed. The vegetable broth has a lot of salt already in it so you'll want to make sure you're careful with salt in this recipe.