Healthy smoked carrots on creamy dill pasta make an irresistible combination for lox lovers who want to keep things vegan. The Chickapea noodles make the perfect base for the cream cheese sauce and compliment the dish perfectly. This vegan, gluten-free meal is so tempting, you may not even make it to table before you dig in.

Cream Cheese and Lox Linguine

• Prep Time:  30 minutes
• Cook Time: 40 minutes
• Total Time:  1 hour 10 minutes
• Course: Dinner
• Cuisine: Canadian
• Servings: 3-4 people

Vegan Lox:

• 4 large carrots
• ½ cup table salt
• 1 tsp water
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 Tbsp liquid smoke
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 tsp paprika
• ½ tsp ground black pepper

Pasta Ingredients:

• 1 Package Chickapea Linguine
• 2 Tbsp table salt (for boiling pasta)
• 6 Tbsp vegan butter
• 1 white onion, chopped
• ¼ tsp salt
• 2 Tbsp gluten free flour, 1-1 blend
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 cup oat milk
• ½ cup vegan cream cheese
• ¼ cup vegan parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup red onion, thinly sliced
• 3 Tbsp capers
• ¼ cup fresh dill, chopped
• 1 lemon, cut into wedges

Vegan Lox Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 475°F
2. Pour ¼ cup salt into the bottom of a rough baking pan
3. Sprinkle four large, unpeeled carrots with 1 tsp of water
4. Pour remaining ¼ cup salt over the carrots so it roughly coats the carrots in a lot of salt
5. Bake the carrots in the oven for 35-45 minutes or until the skin begins to blacken and blister
6. Once blistering but not soft inside the skin, remove the carrots from the oven and allow them to cool for a few minutes
7. Using your fingers, wipe away as much salt as possible and gently peel the skin off each carrot
8. Discard all the salt and carrot skin
9. Slice each carrot length wise as thinly as possible or use a mandolin on a medium thickness setting until the carrots are sliced
10. Place the sliced carrots in the bottom of a medium bowl
11. Cover the carrots with olive oil, apple cider vinegar, liquid smoke, lemon juice, paprika, and black ground pepper
12. Set the carrots aside to marinate while preparing the rest of the dish

Pasta Instructions:

1. Add the butter to a large pan over medium heat
2. Stir in the onions and salt and cook until beginning to brown, roughly 3-4 minutes
3. Add the gluten-free flour and garlic powder into the onions and mix well
4. Pour the plant-based milk into the onion mixture and return the heat to a simmer
5. Melt in the vegan cream cheese and parmesan cheese into the sauce
6. Stir the mixture cooking it over medium low until heated through, timing will vary but only cook until hot
7. Meanwhile, cook the Chickapea Linguine to package specification (heat 16 cups of water and 2 Tbsp of salt in a large pot over high heat until boiling. Add pasta to the water, decrease the heat to maintain a gentle boil. Stir and cook the pasta for 5 minutes)
8. Dain the pasta and rinse with warm water
9. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir to coat or plate the pasta adding the desired amount of cream cheese sauce over each serving
10. Top the servings with vegan carrot lox, sliced red onion, capers, and fresh dill
11. Serve with lemon wedges
12. Enjoy!