Cheesy Macaroni Bake with Butternut Squash and Greens:Number of People: 4 - 6
Ingredients:1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 1" pieces
1 1/2 cups almond or soy milk
2 Tbsp cornflour
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 heaped Tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt (or not)
pepper to taste
450 g brown rice pasta-fusilli or other shape
1 head Swiss chard or other greens, washed, stem removed and roughly chopped
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
Preparation:Preheat your oven to c. 150 degrees (for my cranky oven it is 150, you will probably have to change this to whatever works for you).
Line a cookie sheet with aluminium foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Spread chopped butternut onto tray in one layer and lightly spray with cooking oil. Sprinkle with a dash of salt and pepper. Roast for 45 minutes.
While squash is roasting, set a medium-large pot of water on your stove to boil.
Put cornflour, soy milk, nutritional yeast, mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper into
and whisk 5 seconds until everything is well combined. Follow EDC custard directions for cooking - 7 minutes, 90 C and speed 4.
Add 2 cups of the roasted butternut and blend 15 seconds, speed 8.
Cook pasta and vege greens in same pot, drain and run cold water over it to stop the cooking process and to prevent it from becoming one big lump of pasta.
Place the remaining roasted butternut into the pot with the noodles and greens. Pour the sauce over the noodles and stir well. Transfer into a 9" x 13" casserole dish that has been sprayed lightly with cooking spray. Top with whole wheat breadcrumbs and bake for 30 minutes.
I was almost tempted to put this into main dishes, not into vegetarian meals (it is, in fact, vegan ... but don't tell anyone, they won't realise the difference). Apart from waiting for the butternut to roast, this is a very quick meal and extremely tasty. If you wanted, you could possibly put cheese into the sauce, but I really don't think it is necessary as it works really well as it stands.
I got this from Wendy Solganik on her
blogKmw: Good to know you can freeze nutritional yeast - Itsnotartitsfinner do you freeze in batches, defrost then use or use straight from freezer?
INAID: Kmw mine is frozen whole. It's one of those ingredients I've been meaning to use!
Cuilidh: Made a huge pot of this last night for our visitors (2 men) and said nothing until the end, when I told them they had just eaten a vegan meal ... and there wasn't a speck of anything left over by then, so I felt it was 'safe' to admit it. Knowing that I only cooked vegetarian and that DH is lactose intolerant, they knew not to expect meat, but,even knowing that, they still thought there was cream in it.
Chookie: Made this today and liked the taste, but will reduce the yeast to 1/2 a cup as I found it a bit strong. Easy to make and looks better than in photo. Will crisp up the top when reheated tomorrow. Thanks Marina.
Had this reheated for dinner tonight. DD. loved it and said she will eat this for Dinner with salad for the rest of the week. The yeasty taste had lessened. I thought it was good as a side dish, DH thought the same. The GC weren't crazy about it. Would make it again, not sure about reducing the yeast now.
Cuilidh: You could maybe drop the yeast to 1/2 a cup and up the mustard and garlic powder a bit to compensate with a bit more taste from them. I generally measure the yeast a bit on the light side anyway because I do not like too strong a yeast taste - or maybe keep the yeast the same but use a bit more garlic powder and mustard anyway? Perhaps I need to do a bit of experimentation next time that I make this.
Kmw:Had this tonight after freezing the sauce last week. Didn't get around to doing the breadcrumbs either. As mentioned the yeast is quiet a strong flavour so wasn't sure how it go but was pleasantly surprise once it was all put together & does have a cheesy taste. DH & I really liked it but our 21 month wasn't too keen. So verdict is I would make it again & would like to do the breadcrumbs too.
Katiej: I feel like I should apologise to you Marina, as I've been very un-pc and made a non vegan version of this tonight. I used cows milk and cheese. I asked my DH what he wanted for dinner tonight and he said Mac & cheese (which is one of his favourite things). I remembered this recipe and decided to try it.
We both really enjoyed this, the pumpkin and greens really added to it. Thanks for the recipe Marina, it was lovely.
