I need a dairy free vegetarian pasta sauce for a tomato hating 8 year old

[IlanaK]

I want to have pasta this week without meat (we normally do bolognaise). We don't eat dairy so I can't fall back on cheesey pasta. My 8 year old really hates tomatoey sauces.

So I am stuck for ideas!

Help!

Is pesto dairy free? (big apologies if it's not)

Alternatively could you just serve it with a bit of olive oil so it's not dry and then have an accompaniment on the side (veg etc)

No, pesto contains parmesan cheese.

You could make your own and leave out the parmesan.

I do this - First boil some thin green beans for 2 mins then take out of the water and put some spaghetti on to boil, chop some bacon into bits and fry in some olive oil, add some crushed garlic (optional) but dont let it burn!

Drain pasta then mix with the bacon and green beans - add a bit more oil if needed.

or you can buy meridian dairy free red pesto from most supermarkets.

I just cook the pasta and then toss lightly in fried garlic oil and sprinkle a few chilli seeds on the adults. In fact i had this on holiday just about every day

You could add onions, peas etc to bulk it up

primavera although i wouldn't tend to put the carrots in, personally. i like it green. and like fpe i do a recipe that's just melted anchovies, garlic, lemon juice and dried chilli. nice with a bit of broccoli added.

I do a 'hidden veg' sauce for my boys as a means of getting them to eat more vegetables - cook up whatever you have (I fry courgettes, peppers, onions, garlic etc and boil other veg such as carrots - depends what I have in that needs using!) then blend in a food processor - you could add some liquid such as stock if it's too thick. I usually add a tin of tomoatoes or tomato puree but you could easily leave that out and season/ add herbs to taste.

Pesto is so easy to make - fresh basil leaves, garlic, olive oil and pine nuts. You can buy dairy-free parmesan substitute cheese from health food shops if you want to add that too.

Thanks all. Primavera sounds perfect.

My DS is also dairy free and we have have pasta with a chicken stock based sauce. Add some steamed Brocolli to softened onions and garlic in a wok, add about 8oz of chicken stock and add the cooked pasta.

We usually just have it with some sundried tomatoes or Chorizo but you can throw anything in, chicken, ham, sausages etc

I fry some chopped leeks, mushrooms, courgettes and peppers, add some chopped ham and stir in some oatly cream.

Stir fry some onions, garlic, ginger, and spring onions until onions are cooked (about 5 minutes), then add carrots and caugettes cut into julienne and any other stir-fry veg like mushrooms, mange tout, baby corn, sweet corn, peas, shreddd lettuce or cabbage or chinese cabbage etc.

Stir fry for about five minutes, veg should still be crunchy, then add a mug of 1 tbsp cornflour mixed with two tbsp soy sauce and filled with cold wateer. Heat through, stirring, until the cornflour thickens and cooks. Add more water if necessary and a stock cube. Or you can use stock instead of water.

You can also add chilli, coconut milk and/or coriander.

Loads of opportunity to adapt the recipe. It's especially nice with tagliatelle or shells.