Of all the dozen or so attempts I have tried to make, this is the closest I have come to a "conventional" (i.e. sauce made with dairy products) cheese sauce.
340 gm any pasta
Vegetables of choice
2 tsp vegan butter or olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 cup cashews, soaked overnight or 1-2 hours in boiling water
1/4 cup pasta water
1 ½ cups unsweetened almond milk
4 cloves roasted garlic
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
½ teaspoon sea salt
Mustard – the type and quantity to your taste
2 tbs vegan parmesan cheese + extra for topping
1 tablespoon lime juice
chopped parsley, for garnish
Roast the garlic - Cut a bit of the tops off of a whole head of garlic, put it in foil, drizzle olive oil on it, wrap the foil around it and cook it at 200 – 220 C for 45 minutes until the cloves are soft and velvety! Allow it to cool, then push the cloves out.
Cook pasta and add vegetables so that they are ready when the pasta is ready. When the pasta is cooked, drain, reserve ¼ cup of the pasta water then pour the pasta back into the pan and keep warm.
While the pasta is cooking, heat the butter or olive oil in TMX 3 min / 100 / sp 1-2. Add the onion and cook 5 minutes / varoma / sp 1 / MC off.
Add the soaked and rinsed cashews, pasta water, almond milk, roasted garlic, nutritional yeast, sea salt, parmesan cheese, mustard and the lime juice. Blend it all together in TMX until completely creamy. This will take about 1 - 2 minutes – or just keep blending until completely smooth and creamy. Taste and add more salt or vegan parmesan cheese if necessary.
Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir to combine completely.
When serving, top with parsley to garnish and more vegan parmesan cheese. Enjoy!
You can reheat this! Just reheat it in a stove top over medium high heat with a bit more almond milk to thin it out again until hot.
This recipe is heavily based, with thanks, on a sauce from
jessicainthekitchen