Make Thanksgiving Mac and Cheese With Cashew Dip
Mac and cheese is one of America’s favorite foods. All options are welcome – sticky or baked, decorated or plain. Noodles with processed cheese and dairy products; it’s a simple serving of carbureted heaven. But when you need a vegan option, where do you start? Of course, with cheese sauce. Think of it this way: most dry pasta is already vegan, so you’re already halfway there. Use this “cheesy” cashew sauce to take you the rest of the way.
The bulk of this recipe consists of soaked and softened cashews. Cashews become extremely tender after soaking and are mixed with plant-based milk and spices to create a thick, flavorful sauce. It’s amazing how soaking cashews can result in a completely different texture than the crunchy fried version. (Try adding them to soups and stews .) Cashews’ fat content creates a rich texture, the drupe has a mild flavor that can be easily manipulated with spices, and our cheesiest non-cheese friend, nutritional yeast, tops it all off. . A pinch of MSG creates a subtle hint of Parmesan cheese, and all you have to do is add the pasta.
How to make cashew cheese sauce
1. Soak cashews
There is a long way and a fast way, and both are effective. The longest way is to add raw cashews to a bowl and cover with room temperature water. Leave them to soak for about four hours or overnight. The fastest way is to put the cashews in a bowl and then pour boiled water over them. Let them soak for 30 to 45 minutes. The cashews will look swollen, pale, and some will split down the center. Apart from these signs, I recommend that you eat one. The cashews will be very soft but still retain their integrity.
2. Mix with other ingredients.
Drain the cashews and add them to a blender along with the nutritional yeast, garlic clove, spices, salt and MSG. Add half of the measured liquid and beat for about 30 seconds on high speed. Add the rest of the liquid and stir again until smooth.
This sauce works best if you have a powerful blender. I have a pretty good blender, but it wasn’t enough to get the sauce as smooth as I wanted. I had to pour the mixture into a deep bowl and smooth it out with an immersion blender, which always helps when I’m in a tight spot. This cashew sauce is savory and rich, and the nutritional yeast does a great job of imparting a cheesy flavor. It won’t have the stretchy, cheesy gooey quality, but it will be supremely creamy.
While you can use this sauce to top vegetables or brush eggs, I mixed a pound of pasta with cashew sauce and poured it into a greased baking dish. I then sprinkled it generously with panko crumbs (if you’re vegan, be sure to check the panko ingredients) and sprayed the top with cooking spray to crisp it up. If you don’t have a spray bottle, you can also mix the breadcrumbs with a teaspoon of oil. My Mac was placed in the oven at 400°F for 15 minutes to crisp up on top and set. The result was a clean casserole, but it lost its appeal. If you want it to stay creamy, just toast it for a minute or two to allow the breadcrumbs to crisp up.
Vegan Mac and Cheese Recipe
Ingredients:
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1 ½ cups raw cashews
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⅓ cup nutritional yeast
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1 clove garlic, peeled
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1 ¼ cups unsweetened oat milk (substitute other plant milks)
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½ teaspoon turmeric
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¼ teaspoon paprika
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½ teaspoon onion powder
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1 teaspoon mustard
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1 ½ teaspoons salt
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⅛ teaspoon MSG
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1 pound pasta, boiled
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1 cup panko crumbs
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Spray oil to coat crumbs
1. Preheat oven to 400°F if baking. Grease a medium or large baking dish with butter.
2. Place cashews in a bowl and cover with freshly boiled water. Soak them for 30-45 minutes.
3. Drain the cashews. Place them in a blender with nutritional yeast, garlic, turmeric, paprika, onion powder, mustard, salt and MSG. Add half the oat milk. Beat the mixture on high speed until thickened and smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the other half of the oat milk and stir again until smooth. Mix the cashew sauce with the cooked pasta and add it to a greased baking dish.
3. Sprinkle the panko crumbs over the mac and cheese and drizzle with oil. Bake the pasta for 15 minutes, or bake for a minute or two if you just want a crispy topping.