1/2 cup raw cashews
1 1/2 cups boiling water (best to use starchy pasta-cooking water)
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1-3 garlic cloves, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
salt and pepper, to taste
1. Place raw cashews (not roasted!) in a food processor and pulse until nuts are very fine. Carefully add in the boiling water; process until smooth.
2. Add the lemon juice, garlic, olive oil and nutritional yeast; process again until smooth.
3. Adjust seasonings with salt and pepper.
It's in the blending process that the sauce thickens, which is why using starchy water is your best bet, so it takes a while. If it isn't thickening enough for you, heat it in a saucepan over a low temperature for a few minutes, and that should do the trick.
Serve over cooked pasta. I like some steamed broccoli and red bell peppers added to mine.'