Cashew Mac & Cheese

Excerpted from Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking

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Yield: 6 Servings

Commercially made vegan cheese often includes miso and coconut oil in the ingredients; miso adds umami, while coconut oil adds a velvety texture. The sauce for this mac and cheese uses cashews as the base, while the onion, carrot, garlic, and white wine all bring that depth of flavor that we associate with cheesy goodness. You can serve this right out of the pot or go the extra mile and cover it in bread crumbs before a final bake.

Mastering the Art of Plant-Based Cooking by Joe Yonan

Discover the richness of vegan cuisine with more than 300 mouthwatering recipes for flavorful staples, weeknight meals, and celebratory feasts, from a James Beard Award–winning food writer.

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1 1⁄4 cups (165g) raw cashews
1 medium onion (5 ounces/140g), roughly chopped
1 medium carrot (3 ounces/85g), roughly chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled but whole
1⁄2 cup (120ml) white wine
2 cups (470ml) water
Fine sea salt
1 pound (450g) elbow macaroni
1 tablespoon white or yellow miso, homemade (page 83) or store-bought
1 tablespoon coconut oil
2 teaspoons mustard powder
1⁄2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1⁄4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1⁄8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
Optional if baking: Oil for the baking dish and 1⁄2 cup plain bread crumbs or All-Purpose Crisp Bread Crumb Topping (page 239)

All ingredients Cashews White Wine macaroni Miso Coconut Oil

In a small saucepan, combine the cashews, onion, carrot, garlic, white wine, and water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer until the cashews and vegetables are very tender, 20 to 30 minutes, adding more water to cover as needed.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the macaroni and cook to al dente according to the package directions. Reserving 2 cups of the pasta water, drain the macaroni and return to the pot.
Reserving the cooking liquid, drain the cashews and vegetables. Transfer the cashews and vegetables to a blender. Add about ½ cup (120ml) of the reserved vegetable cooking liquid, the miso, coconut oil, mustard powder, smoked paprika, cayenne, nutmeg, black pepper, and 1 teaspoon salt. Blend on high until smooth and creamy, adding more of the reserved cooking liquid as needed if the mixture becomes too thick. (It should be the consistency of creamy coconut milk.)
To serve, pour the cashew sauce over the macaroni in the large pot, turn the heat to medium, and stir until completely coated. Stir in some of the reserved pasta water, ¼ cup (60ml) at a time, to loosen the sauce if needed. Taste and season with more salt and/or pepper as needed.
Serve immediately or pour into an oiled 9 × 13-inch (23cm × 33cm) baking dish, top with bread crumbs or the bread crumb topping, and bake at 375°F until bubbling and lightly browned, about 30 minutes.

Storage: Refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Joe Yonan, author of Cool Beans, is the two-time James Beard Award-winning food and dining editor of The Washington Post. He is also the author of Eat Your Vegetables, which was named among the best cookbooks of 2013 by The Atlantic, The Boston Globe, and NPR's Here and Now, and Serve Yourself, which Serious Eats, David Lebovitz, and the San Francisco Chronicle named to their best-of-the-year lists. He was editor of America The Great Cookbook, a project to benefit the charity No Kid Hungry. He writes the Post's "Weeknight Vegetarian" column and for five years wrote the "Cooking for One" column, both of which have won honors from the Association of Food Journalists.