All-purpose creamy coconut pasta sauce

Once in a while I want to make something that calls for some sort of basic creamy sauce, whether it's for vodka cream sauce, a hearty addition to a gnocchi or baked pasta dish, a white-sauce pizza, or just a plain alfredo-like cream sauce for a visiting friend's kid, keeping this on hand in the refrigerator or freezer (or making it real quickly on the spot) always comes in handy. Any and all additions you can think of make great optional enhancements: capers, fresh basil, baby spinach, salmon filets, etc. You can also make this vegan with fake butter and Parmesan without losing much of the great flavor. 

Prep time: 1 cocktail (but ideally you can let the flavors meld for a few hours or overnight)

3 TBSP butter or vegan butter

1 small shallot, finely minced
3-4 cloves garlic, very finely minced
1 5.5-ounce can unsweetened coconut cream (not coconut milk)

1/2 cup dry white wine

1 TBSP microplaned lemon zest

1 tsp dijon
1 TBSP nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup pretty well packed parmesan, grated with a microplane (or a vegan version)

Generous several grinds black pepper
A few pinches' worth of nutmeg, fresh grated with a microplane (optional)

A little tapioca starch (optional)

Prepared pasta

On medium to medium-high heat, melt the butter and then add the shallot and saute really well, until it starts to turn light golden. Add garlic and continue sautéing another 1-2 minutes. 

Once garlic is fragrant, add coconut cream, wine, lemon zest, dijon, nutritional yeast, and salt. Use a whisk to incorporate it all and keep using it, stirring nearly constantly, until the sauce reaches a boil. Reduce to a simmer and keep whisking often.

After reducing to a simmer, you can start adding the parmesan. Add it a few pinches at a time; if you dump it all in at once, it'll make a big glob of a cheese mess. Keep whisking as you slowly add all the cheese. Once it's all incorporated and melted, you can add pepper and nutmeg to taste. 

If you want a thicker alfredo, now you can add a little tapioca starch and whisk it in well. But I prefer to let it cook down slightly and then cool before a quick reheat to serve. This gives me the right consistency without tapioca starch. Either approach is fine.

As you finish the sauce, adjust lemon, salt, pepper, and nutmeg to taste. Remove from heat and serve or (ideally) let the flavors meld for a few hours before serving.