How to make Vegan Mac and Cheese + TIPS to cook pasta from an Italian // by Conscious Rebhell

Here is the link to my Youtube video:

https://youtu.be/-ID2PGqJd58

Before starting just a quick thing: Mac and Cheese is definitely not an Italian dish.

It is an American dish.

We have pasta with delicious cheese in Italy but not Mac and Cheese for sure.

I consider it, especially in the Vegan version, a very good comfort food, perfect for when you do not want to be 100% healthy for a meal and you really need something to comfort you (surprise surprise, this version it's even a bit healthier as it is full of veggies! So no regrets at all!)

Ingredients (for 2 people):

- 200 gr of pasta (I used Rigatoni);

- 1 cup of diced potatoes;

- 1/3 cup of onions chopped;

- 1/4 cup of diced carrots;

- 1/3 cup of vegan butter or margarine;

- 1/4 cup of cashew nuts;

- 1 tsp of salt;

- 1 garlic clove, minced;

- 1 tbsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice;

- 1/4 tsp of mustard;

- smoked paprika;

- black pepper;

- cayenne pepper

How to:

- put 2 pans with water inside and bring the water to boil (1 it will be to boil the pasta, 1 to boil your veggies);

- when the veggie one is boiling, drop in the carrots, the potatoes and the onions for about 15 minutes (after 15 minutes, prick the carrots and the potatoes and, if still hard, keep on boiling them for few minutes until VERY soft. The softer the veggies are, the smoother the "cheesy" sauce will be);

- while you are waiting for the veggies to cook, drop inside a food processor the butter, the cashew nuts, the salt, the garlic, the lemon juice, the mustard, the paprika, the black pepper and the cayenne pepper (for these last 3 ingredients add according to your taste. I usually go for 2 tbsp of paprika, a pinch of black pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper) and add 3 tablespoons of boiling water to the mix;

- when the veggies are ready, drain them but keep the hot water in a bowl (you can use this water in case that, after the mix will be processed, it will still look not creamy enough) and add them to the food processor. Process on HIGH for 15 seconds, open the food processor and scrape the sides, process again for 30 seconds and keep processing and checking until the mix looks like a very smooth cream (as said before, if not smooth enough, add step by step the boiling water from the veggies. Little by little);

- when the pasta water is boiling, drop the pasta in, add a teaspoon of coarse salt and cook according to instructions (if you like it al dente, cook always 1/2 minutes less than the pasta bag instructions. Except for Barilla. Their cooking times are correct usually);

- when the pasta is ready, add it to the "cheesy" sauce in a big bowl and mix them together with a spoon until well combined;

- serve with a generous sprinkle of nutritional yeast if needed (this recipe is already very tasty so you might want to try it before using the nutritional yeast).

TIPS to cook Pasta (trust me, I am Italian ;):

- drop the pasta ONLY when the water starts to boil.

Please, if you do not want to kill an Italian grandma every time you cook pasta, cook it like this and always al dente otherwise it will look like food for dogs (and probably not even dogs would eat it);

- after dropping the pasta, add a tiny bit of salt (1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt) to give a bit of taste. Otherwise the pasta will taste very plain;

- immediately after dropped, stir, stir and stir otherwise it will stick to the bottom and keep on stirring every 2 minutes to avoid that it will stick together.

Enjoy!

Peace and Rebel!

VERSIONE IN ITALIANO

IngredientI:

- 200 gr di pasta (ho usato i Rigatoni);

- 230 gr di patate tagliate a cubetti;

- 80 gr di cipolle tagliate a pezzetti;

- 60 gr di carote tagliate a pezzetti;

- 80 gr di burro vegano o margarina;

- 60 gr di anacardi;

- 1 cucchiaino di sale;

- 1 spicchio d'aglio, tagliato a pezzetti;

- 1 cucchiaio di succo di limone;

- un pizzico di senape;

- paprika affumicata;

- pepe nero;

- peperoncino di cayenna

Procedimento:

- mettere a bollire 2 pentole con dell'acqua dentro (una per la pasta, una per le verdure);

- quando l'acqua bolle, buttare le carote, le patate e le cipolle a bollire per circa 15 minuti (controllare dopo 15 minuti punzecchiando con una forchetta carote e patate e, se ancora dure, lasciar bollire per alcuni minuti in piu', fino a che non saranno DAVVERO morbidissime. Piu' saranno morbide, piu' la salsa sara' omogenea e cremosa);

- mentre le verdure stan cuocendo, mettete in un robot da cucina il burro, gli anacardi, il sale, l'aglio, il succo di limone, la senape, la paprika, il pepe nero e il peperoncino di cayenna (per questi ultimi 3 ingredienti, aggiungere a piacere. Di norma io uso 2 cucchiai di paprika, un pizzico di pepe nero ed un pizzico di peperoncino di cayenna) ed aggiungere 3 cucchiai dell'acqua bollente di cottura delle verdure;

- quando le verdure sono pronte, scolarle ma conservarne l'acqua in una ciotola (si potra' usare quest'acqua nel caso in cui la salsa non risulti abbastanza cremosa) ed aggiungerle agli altri ingredienti nel robot da cucina. Accendere il robot da cucina alla massima velocita' per 15 secondi, aprirlo, spingere con un lecca pentle gli ingredienti attaccati alle pareti del robot, riaccendere il robot da cucina per 30 secondi e continuare a processare fino a che il mix non risultera' cremoso ed omogeneo (come detto in precedenza, se non omogeneo abbastanza, aggiungere l'acqua di cottura delle verdure poco a poco);

- quando l'acqua per la pasta bolle, buttare la pasta, aggiunger un po' di sale grosso e cucinare secondo i minuti di cottura sul pacco di pasta;

- quando la pasta e' pronta, metterla in una ciotola grossa con la salsa e mescolare per bene, delicatamente;

- servire con una spolverata di lievito nutrizionale (prima di mettere il lievito, assaggiate la pasta in quanto potrebbe essere gia' molto gustosa di suo).

Enjoy!

Peace and Rebel!