To begin, prepare and gather your mise en place. Also make sure you have your cashew milk/cream made (see last step for more details).

For the Italian sausage, you can either make your own or buy them. We often use the Field Roast Italian Sausages. If making your own, using this Roasted Red Pepper Sausage as a guide and add Italian flavourings such as fennel rather then the cumin, paprika etc. called for in the recipe.

To prepare the sausages for the sauce, put them into a food processor and pulse into a crumble. Note, for more texture, pulse only half of the sausages in the food processor and break the other half up into bigger chunks. Ultimately, the final texture comes down to person preference — try it both ways to see which way you prefer.

To start the sauce, preheat a large, heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Once hot, add the oil, followed by the sausage. Let cook, stirring frequently to prevent burning. Once the sausage has nice browned, add the vegan butter (or more oil), followed by the onions.

Cook the onions for about a minute or so and then add the carrots and celery. Let the mixture cook for about 5 minutes or so, or until they have started to soften and become somewhat translucent. Next, add the garlic, thyme, nutmeg and chile flakes and let cook for another minute or so.

To finish the sauce, deglaze with pot with the white wine and then add the tomato sauce.

*Note: For this recipe we used this Tomato Sauce (or this one); however, feel free to use whichever tomato sauce you like. If using store bought sauce, this is one of the best brands/sauces that we have found Rao’s Marinara.

Next, add the cashew milk.

**Note: The Cashew Milk used in this recipe is simply 1 part soaked cashews to 3 parts water (blended until smooth) — no other flavourings were added to the milk/cream.

Let this mixture cooking for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Stirring frequently to prevent sticking and/or burning. Note that the heat with need to be very low in order for the sauce to gently simmer. For the best results, use a flame protector to disperse the heat. This is the one we use — the sauce simmers away without any hot spots.

Lastly, taste for seasoning adding salt and pepper as needed.

This sauce is great for any type of pasta dish. It can be refrigerated for up to 2 days; it can also be frozen for up to 1 month.

Serve this sauce with your favourite pasta. Typically a sauce such as this one is best served with heartier pastas such as rigatoni or with wider pastas such as pappardelle noodles. This sauce would also be a great filling in a lasagne.

If desired, when serving, top the pasta off with some freshly shaved Walnut Parmesan.