Vegan Mac 'n Cheese

Mac 'n cheese is an evergreen food; it's good year-round, but especially on cold days when you want to feel extra cozy. That's the kind of day it was when we made this vegan mac 'n cheese. It wasn't exactly planned, we just happened to have everything on hand already. We had Banza elbow pasta and I had recently purchased some plant-based Violife just like cheddar shreds. The bag proudly proclaimed 'melts great!', so I trusted it would be suitable for mac 'n cheese. From the picture, you can see it worked quite well. I've only tried it with this brand of plant-based cheese, and was very satisfied with the outcome. The ingredient list is short and sweet, and the flavor was pretty solid. It had the sharpness of a mild cheddar with some depth of flavor. The melty factor really won me over.  Would I make it again? 1000% Just waiting on another chilly day to come along. 

To complete the dish and the meal, we topped the mac 'n cheese with sourdough breadcrumbs and served it with No Evil Food's plant-based 'pulled pork'. I wasn't as impressed with this particular plant-based meat. I haven't tried their other products (they also make chicken and sausage), but this one just didn't have much of a 'smoky BBQ flavor' as marketed, and didn't have a very pleasing texture. Some extra BBQ sauce saved it some, but I'd be fine just with mac 'n cheese alone next time. 

|| Vegan Mac 'n Cheese ||

Ingredients

• 8oz. elbow macaroni (I used Banza)
• 3 Tb. refined coconut oil
• 3 Tb. all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cup plant based milk (I used Milkadamia)
• one 8oz. Violife just like cheddar shreds (or your fave plant-based cheese)*
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. fresh-ground black pepper, plus more to taste

Bread crumb topping (optional)

• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• 1 Tb. refined coconut oil

*Note this is not an ad, I was just really impressed with how the dish turned out with this particular brand. 

Directions

1. If adding bread crumb topping, preheat oven to 400F and place 2 qt. Dutch oven or other ceramic bakeware on middle rack. 
2. Cook pasta according to instructions. Drain the pasta, spritz on some oil to prevent sticking and set aside.
3. Make the roux: In a large pot over medium heat, melt coconut oil. Add flour and whisk until combined into a smooth paste. Gradually pour in milk a little at a time while whisking continuously to incorporate fully. Continue whisking for a few minutes until mixture thickens. You should be able to see the bottom of the pot for ~1s after passing the whisk through.
4. Add the cheese along with salt and pepper. Switch to a silicone spatula and continue stirring until melted and bubbling slightly.
5. Add in the cooked elbow macaroni and stir until thoroughly coated in cheese. Remove from heat.
6. If using the bread crumb topping, combine breadcrumbs with coconut oil and set aside. Transfer mac 'n cheese to pre-heated Dutch oven and top evenly with bread crumbs. Bake uncovered in oven for about 10 min, until topping is nicely browned. (Note: I used my own homemade sourdough which is darker at baseline because it is made out of white whole wheat flour). 
7. Serve & enjoy!