Substitute a cashew cheddar for the dairy-based cheese, and you can be animal-friendly and still enjoy the classic staple Mom used to make for the holidays (or any old Wednesday night).
Click through to find out how you can take the cow out of the equation and still get the gooey, cheesy, wholesomeness straight out of your own oven.
Vegan Baked Mac-n-(Cashew-Cheddar)-Cheese
What you'll need:
2 cups Raw Organic Cashews, soaked in 4 cups cold water over night
2 Tbsp Fresh Garlic, chopped
½ cup Shallots, caramelized
3 Tbsp Red Miso Paste
¼ cup Sherry Vinegar
¼ cup Olive Oil
3 Tbsp Turmeric Powder
3 Tbsp Tamari Soy Sauce
Dash of Hot Sauce (optional)
2 Tbsp Tapioca Starch, mixed into slurry with 4 Tbsp cold water
1 lb Small Shell or Elbow Pasta, cooked al dente
½ cup Vegan Bread Crumbs, coarse ground
What you'll do:
Preheat oven to 350˚F.
Place all ingredients, except the pasta and bread crumbs, into a blender and pulse until smooth.
Combine mixture with al dente cooked pasta in a deep 9-by-11-inch casserole dish.
Top with breadcrumbs and bake for 20 minutes.
At Green, Brasch uses either a small shell pasta or corn elbow pasta for a gluten-free version. He also recommends topping the Mac-n-Cheese with a spicy mock chicken breast to make a more complete meal.
Heck, we'd throw in some broccoli to get our greens into the mix too! Okay, now we're getting hungry.
Luckily Mac-N-(Cashew-Cheddar)-Cheese is on special at Green next week, so no overnight cashew soaking is necessary on our part. And while we're there, we can really go on a faux-dairy splurge and get a tsoynami too...
