Sarah’;s Wholefood Mac n Cheese
This is a wholefoods plant, based reinterpretation of this classic comfort dish. The original Mac ‘n’ Cheese was created by African, American Chef James Hemings whilst he was experiencing enslavement in the Thomas Jefferson household. Thomas Jefferson is often wrongly accredited as the creator of Mac ‘n’ Cheese when it was really the culinary vision and creation of James Hemings.
Ingredients
For The Topping
- ½ cup *Almonds
*To make this dish lower cost you can skip the almonds and use 1" data-recipe="4856">1 teaspoon Olive Oil
*To make this dish lower cost you can skip the almonds and use 1 cup of sunflower seeds. You can also skip the linseeds but this have a great nutritional profile so keep them in if you can.
Instructions
-
Preparation
Soak cashews in cold filtered water ideally 8 hours before making dish. If you soak them for anything over 3 hours this will be fine. If you forget to do this you can always soak them in boiling water for 15minutes just before you want to use them. But the cold soaking method is better.
Method
- Preheat oven to 200C/400F.
-
To save time place the whole butternut squash in the oven and roast for 1 hour or until skin has gone brown and you can poke a skewer or knife easily into it.
-
Set a timer for 30minutes and when it goes off add the two garlic cloves to the oven coated in a little olive oil.
-
While the squash (and later on the garlic as well) are roasting, add the almonds and sunflower seeds from the topping recipe to a pan and lightly toast them.
-
Add the almonds, sunflower seeds, linseeds, nutritional yeast and olive oil to a food processor or blender and blitz until you have small chunks of almonds. Decant into a bowl and set aside to use later.
-
Drain the cashews of their water and then add them and all the ingredients for the Mac sauce to a blender – but don’t blend just yet.
-
Boil a pan of water and once bubbling add a pinch of salt and then your pasta of choice. Cook for as long as the instructions say on the packet of pasta.
-
Once cooked drain the pasta of the boiling water using a colander, and then return to the pan and keep the lid on to keep it warm.
-
Once your butternut squash is cooked take it out the oven. Using oven gloves hold it and using a sharp knife cut it down its length in half.
-
Using a spoon scoop the middle seedy bit out and set aside (you can make a roasted seed snack with these later if you wish).
-
Next scoop the orange flesh out and add to your food processor along with the roasted garlic cloves.
-
Blend into a smooth cheesy looking sauce.
-
Add your pasta to a large baking dish and pour the sauce over the pasta.
-
Turn the oven down to 160C/325F.
-
Sprinkle the top of the dish with the nut and seed topping and then bake in the oven for another 20 minutes.
-
Serve with steamed greens or a salad for a delicious, nutrition dense and comforting meal..
