Creamy Spinach Sweet Potato Noodles with Cashew Sauce

Here’s a quick recipe for lunch – or at least, I made it into a quick recipe. You see, my spiralizer is a small hand-held thing that is essentially a pencil sharpener for vegetables. And, you know, I was recovering from a carpal tunnel flare-up, so there was no way I was spiralizing things myself. I ended up getting spiralized butternut squash from the frozen section instead. 

You’ll end up with more sauce than you need, but I don’t recommend halving the recipe because then, you wouldn’t have enough for the blender to really be efficient. You could also add more toppings – the original recipe suggests bacon or caramelized onions, both of which sound great to me! 

1 cup cashews 

¾ cup water (plus more for soaking) 

½ tsp. salt 

1 clove garlic 

1 Tbsp. oil 

4 large sweet potatoes, spiralized (see note above) 

2 cups baby spinach 

1 handful of fresh basil leaves, chives, or other herbs 

salt and pepper, to taste 

olive oil, for drizzling (optional) 

Put the cashews in a bowl and cover them with water; soak for 2 hours or so (I soaked them overnight). 

Drain and rinse thoroughly. Place in a high-powered blender with the ¾ cup water, salt, and garlic. Purée until very smooth. 

Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat. Add the sweet potatoes; toss in the pan for 6-7 minutes with tongs until tender-crisp. Remove from heat and toss in the spinach – it should wilt pretty quickly. 

Add half of the herbs and half of the sauce to the pan and toss to combine. (Add water if the mixture is too sticky.) Season generously with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, and top with the remaining fresh herbs.