Creamy Cashew Mac and Cheese
This recipe comes from “America’s Test Kitchen - Vegan For Everyone”. It is a version of macaroni and cheese. You can use a small pasta other than elbow macaroni. I have made it with ditalini and cavatelle pasta. It makes a lot of sauce so I have made this with 1/2 sauce ingredients and 3 cups of small pasta before. I like that portion of sauce to pasta. Below is the original recipe. Serve this with a vegan parmesan cheese. This recipe serves 6.
Ingredients
⅓ cup coconut oil (make sure its refined)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
4 tsp dry mustard
1 Tbsp tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
½ tsp ground turmeric
4 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk
3 cups of cauliflower florets, cut into ½ inch pieces
½ cups raw cashews, chopped
1 lb elbow macaroni
1 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
pepper to taste
vegan parmesan
Instructions
Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until shimmering.
Stir in nutritional yeast, mustard, tomato paste, garlic, salt and turmeric.
Cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in almond milk, scraping any browned bits and bring to simmer over medium-high heat.
Stir in cauliflower and cashews, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook, partially coerced, until cauliflower is very soft and falls apart easily when poked with a fork, about 20 minutes.
Cool down cauliflower mixture to room temperature.
Working in small batches, process cauliflower mixture in a blender until smooth (about 20 seconds if you use the individual cup size on a ninja blender).
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Set aside ½ cup of cooking water to thin sauce later if needed.
Transfer processed cauliflower-cashew sauce to an empty pot and bring to a gentle simmer over medium-low heat.
Add drained pasta and vinegar and cook stirring constantly until warmed through and sauce is slightly thickened, about 3 minutes.
Adjust consistency with reserved cooking water as needed.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Serve immediately with vegan parmesan cheese.