“Cheesy” Pasta Bake

Ingredients

Serves 4

250g Pasta (whatever you have, I like penne)

500g Chestnut Mushrooms

500g Spinach 

(optional) 1/2 Broccoli Head, Red Pepper, Tofu

“Cheesy” Sauce:

3 tbsp Vegan Butter 

2 cloves Garlic, crushed

4 tbsp Flour

1 cup Plant-based Milk*

2 cups Veg Stock *

3-4 tbsp Nutritional Yeast (plus more for topping)

Salt & pepper to taste

Method

preheat oven gas mark 5

• Place pasta in a medium saucepan with boiling water and salt. Bring to the boil, then simmer until the pasta is half cooked (approx. 8 minutes for white pasta) Once cooked, remove from the heat and drain reserving the pasta water. Add vegan stock cubes to the pasta water (this will become your stock) and measure out 2 cups (the pasta water becomes starchy which allows the sauce to stick to the pasta better).

• Whilst the pasta is cooking: slice the mushrooms, remaining veg and tofu (if using). Heat a large frying pan with 1 tsp of oil. Fry the veg & tofu for a 5 minutes with a pinch of salt, stirring occasionally. Add the spinach and cook for another 2 minutes. Remove from heat. 

• Next prepare the sauce: In a medium saucepan melt the butter with the crushed garlic. Once the butter begins to turn a golden colour add the flour and whisk to form a paste. Next, add the milk and stock whisking to combine. Finally, add the nutritional yeast, salt & pepper. Whisk until the sauce begins to thicken then remove from the heat. The sauce should be thick but not too thick – it should still run like a sauce. Do not leave on the heat for too long as the sauce will become too thick to pour over your pasta.

• Add the pasta to the mushrooms & spinach and season with salt & pepper. Next add 3/4 of sauce reserving 1/4. Mix until all of the pasta and veg is covered in sauce. Transfer to an oven proof dish. Top the pasta with the remaining sauce. (optional) Top with a sprinkle of nutritional yeast. Bake the pasta for approx. 20-30 minutes until the top begins to turn golden.  

Notes:

• I have used cups here as I find it easier to measure out (&quicker) than measuring ml. If you do not have measuring cups use approx 250ml plant milk & 350