Victor has recently learned that he is reactive to histamines. For those of you unfamiliar with histamines they are a compound in our body that is released during allergic reactions. Histamines also exist in the food we eat and include a fairly long list of yummy things: tomatoes, eggplants, vinegar, soy sauce, beer, wine, cider. And, sob-sob, many nuts. So he has been on an odyssey to cook low-histamine foods that are not bereft of flavour.

This recipe mostly fits that criteria (with the caveat that most pre-made curries, like the Patak brand used in this recipe, contain vinegar).

It is super delicious and even our nut-so-crazy kid ate it up and took it for lunch the next day.

We would normally use cashews to create the cream sauce, but we have substituted macadamia nuts because of the histamine content in cashews; and it was more than suitable to create the texture and mouth feel of a cream sauce.

The other trick in this recipe is to combine the macadamias with the magical pasta water to create the cream sauce. Pasta water on it’s on is a very capable emulsifying agent, but combining with the macadamias in a high-speed blender makes the two greater than the sum of their parts.

Serves 6

Ingredients

The sauce
  • 75 g macadamia nuts (about half to 2/3 a cup)
  • 4 medium cloves of garlic sliced thinly
  • 2 tablespoons mild curry paste
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups pasta water
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp pepper

The pasta
  • 1 medium onion chopped finely
  • 3 garlic cloves minced
  • 2 bunches kale (about 4 cups chopped coarsely), or broccoli works fine as well, just lightly steam it first
  • 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 375 g pasta 
  • 3/4 cup parsley coarsely chopped (1/2 a bunch)
  • 1/2 cup thinly sliced cherry tomoatoes
Directions
  1. For this recipe it helps with the timing to cook the pasta right away and reserve the pasta water for the sauce. So boil the pasta in at least 4 cups of salted water. When the pasta is two minutes away from being done pour off at least 1 1/2 cups of the water into the container of a high speed blender (I usually pour a little more just to have some extra on hand in case the sauce needs a little thinning).
  2. Add the olive oil (3 tbsp) to a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the 4 cloves of sliced garlic to the pan and cook for two minutes and keep stirring so the garlic is cooked evenly. Pour the garlic and olive oil into the blender canister with the pasta water.
  3. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the same pan over a medium heat.
  4. Add chilli flakes (1/2 tsp) and cook for 1 minute to release the chilli oils.
  5. Add onion and kale. Fry and stir until onions become translucent.
  6. Add salt (1/2 tsp) and pepper (1/4 tsp) 
  7. While the onions and kale are cooking add the curry (2 tbsp) to the blender canister and the macadamia nuts (2/3 cup). Also add salt (1/4 tsp) and pepper (1/8 tsp) then blend at a high speed for 2 minutes. Stop and taste for flavour and consistency. Macadamias take a little longer to get smooth than cashews so if the sauce is a little grainy blend for a little longer. The macadamia cream should be the consistency of heavy cream; if not adjust by adding more macadamias to thicken or use pasta water to thin. 
  8. When onions and kale are ready, add pasta to the mixture in the pan and combine over a low heat.
  9. When the pasta, onions and kale are combined add 1/2 the macadamia curry mixture and combine then taste. Add another 1/4 as needed; and the final 1/4 if necessary.
  10. Plate the pasta and toss the sliced tomatoes and parsley over the pasta.