Baked Mac and Cheeze

Ask most people what their favorite comfort food is, and chances are they will say Macaroni and Cheese. Most of the vegan versions I've tried, while good in their own right, haven’t been able to rival this cherished dish of my childhood. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen, or I won’t keep trying. So far I’ve resisted using commercial nondairy cheeses. While I have a feeling they would come very close to mimicking the original, I don’t feel it would be a step in the right direction, loaded as they are with oil, saturated fats, and additives. 1000 Vegan Recipes offers up a couple of vegan renditions of Mac-N-Cheese, and recently I tried the “Baked Mac and Cheeze”, (page 222).

The basis of the sauce is soy milk, flour and nutritional yeast, with flavor enhancements including soy sauce, miso, mustard, cayenne, and paprika, plus a touch of turmeric to give it a yellow, cheese-like hue. The sauce, which incorporates sautéed onion, is thickened on the stove top, after which a cup of broth mixed with cornstarch is added to the pot. (Adding additional liquid/thickener at this point seemed a little strange to me at first, and I’m still wondering about this methodology, but it seemed to all work out.) Finally, the sauce is combined with cooked elbow macaroni, topped with bread crumbs, and baked in the oven. I opted to top with fresh sliced tomatoes after it was done baking for added color and flavor.

My husband and I both enjoyed this latest rendition. The sauce provided a pleasing flavor, and although not really comparable to cheese, it was cheese-like, primarily due to the large amount of nutritional yeast. It was still a hot-out-of-the-oven satisfying pasta dish that always pleases at some level. It made a lot for two people, and the leftovers warmed up in the microwave nicely.

I made a slight departure from the recipe directions since I prepared this without the 3 tablespoons of olive oil used to make the roux for the sauce. Normally, when making a “white sauce”, oil is warmed in a saucepan, to which flour is added and mixed until you have a soft paste of oil and flour. The oil helps prevent the flour from lumping when you begin to slowly incorporate the milk with a whisk. Using this methodology isn’t very conducive to oil free cooking, it seems you just can’t prevent lumps without coating the flour in oil. To get around this dilemma, I’ve taken to mixing all the ingredients in a blender and processing until smooth, then thickening on the stove. Here are my revised instructions for Step #2, if you opt to make this without the oil:

1. Sauté the onion by itself in a little broth or water; set aside.
2. Put the remaining sauce ingredients (except the cornstarch and broth) into a blender and blend until smooth. If you want to add a small amount of natural oil and creaminess to the sauce, you can include 2 tablespoons of tahini to the sauce ingredients before blending. I did this, and was happy with the results.
3. Transfer blended sauce to a large sauce pan and thicken over medium heat, whisking almost constantly.
4. Add the sautéed onion to the thickened sauce.
5. Proceed with the remainder of the recipe (Step #3 in the book).

  

Keeping it “McDougall Friendly” checklist:

• Use a small amount of water or broth to sauté the onion.
• Use wholegrain pasta of your choice.
• Use wholegrain breadcrumbs.