Saturday, May 17, 2008

Vegan Mac 'n Cheese


The first vegan mac 'n cheese I made was from Jo Stepaniak's wonderful, amazing "The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook." I made some tiny tweaks to my taste, and this is the result.


2-1/2 cups dry whole wheat elbow macaroni
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon onion powder
Tiny pinch of cayenne
1-3/4 cups almond milk, heated (or any other non-dairy, but I prefer almond)
3/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 cup packed panko bread crumbs (they are crunchier and lighter than regular bread crumbs)

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with cooking spray and set aside. Cook macaroni, drain well (save about 1/2 cup of pasta water for the sauce) and set aside.

While macaroni is cooking, heat olive oil in a large saucepan. When hot, stir in flour, mustard, onion powder, and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 1 minute. Gradually stir in heated milk, a little at a time, mixing constantly. This should take 5 to 7 minutes. Cook the sauce until it is the consistency of thick cream, about 2 to 4 additional minutes. Remove from heat and stir in nutritional yeast flakes. Add the reserved pasta water. Season with salt and pepper. Stir in cooked macaroni and mix well.

Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle panko breadcrumbs on top. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

***Sometimes we can't wait for it to bake, and we eat it like the blue box mac 'n cheese...but it's SOOOOO much better!***

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