Recipe: Vegan Mac and Cheeze

I suddenly had the desire to make a vegan and dairy free mac & cheese so I've been experimenting to see what I can come up with. I don't think this dish was ever a staple in our home growing up so I'm not sure why I had a craving. There are loads of recipes online and it was difficult to settle on just one so in the end I got creative and used them for inspiration. I decided to make a simple bechamel white sauce using dairy free margarine, flour and plant milk. 

Here's the quantities I used it made a reasonable portion for one person or smaller servings for two people.

50g/2oz margarine/butter
50g/2oz plain flour
750ml/1¼ pints milk
50g/2oz vegan cheese, grated
80g-100g (per person) macaroni
Seasoning - salt, pepper, garlic, nutritional yeast, paprika - basically choose whatever you like to taste!

I cooked up the macaroni according to the packet instructions whilst this was happening in another saucepan  I melted the margarine then added the flour and cooked over the heat for one minute. Gradually whisk in the plant milk (I used Soya), whisking until thickened. When the sauce was the right consistency I stirred in lots of finely grated dairy free cheese, pepper and paprika. I added cooked macaroni to the cheese sauce, gave it a stir then transferred to an over proof dish.  I topped it with a handful of grated cheese and a sprinkle of paprika. Next I popped dish in the oven for about 10-15 minutes to melt the cheese topping and heat through.  I took it out the oven when the top was crispy and I could see the sauce bubbling. Hey Presto I had made tasty dairy free mac n cheese.

Sarah x