Healthy Butternut Macaroni Cheese

A comfort food classic, healthy and plant-based, without skimping on the comfort.

You will need

• ½ butternut squash, peeled and cut into small pieces (if buying ready-chopped, this should be about 1 lb)
• 1 onion, chopped
• ¼ bulb garlic
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 12 oz (or thereabouts) wholegrain macaroni, or similar pasta shape (even penne works fine—which is good, as it’s often easier to buy wholegrain penne than wholegrain macaroni) (substitute with a gluten-free pasta such as buckwheat pasta, if avoiding gluten)
• 6 oz (or thereabouts) cashews, soaked in hot water for at least 15 minutes (but longer is better)
• ½ cup milk (your preference what kind; we recommend hazelnut for its mellow nutty flavor)
• 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
• ½ tsp MSG, or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
• Optional: smoked paprika, to serve

Note: if you are allergic to nuts, please accept our apologies that there’s no substitution available in this one. Simply put, removing the cashews would mean changing most of the rest of the recipe to compensate, so there’s no easy “or substitute with…” that we can mention. We’ll have to find/develop a good healthy plant-based no-nuts recipe for you at a later date.

Method

(we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

1) Preheat the oven to 400℉ / 200℃.

2) Combine the butternut squash, onion, and garlic with the olive oil, in a large roasting tin, tossing thoroughly to ensure an even coat of oil. Roast them for about 25 minutes until soft.

3) Cook the macaroni while you wait (this should take about 10 minutes or so in salted water), drain, and rinse thoroughly in cold water, before setting aside. This cooling increases the pasta’s resistant starch content (that’s good, for your gut and for your blood sugars, and thus also for your heart and brain), and it will maintain this benefit even when we reheat it later.

4) Drain the cashews, and tip them into a high-speed blender with the milk, and process until smooth. Add the roasted vegetables and the remaining ingredients apart from the pasta, and continue to process until again smooth. You can add a little more milk if you need to, but go easy with it.

5) Heat the sauce (that you just made in the food processor) gently in a saucepan, and refresh the pasta by pouring a kettle of boiling water through it in a colander.

6) Optional: combine the pasta and sauce in an ovenproof dish or cast iron pan, and give it a few minutes under the hottest grill (or browning iron, if you have such) your oven can muster. Alternatively, use a culinary blowtorch, if you have one.

7) Serve; and if you didn’t do the optional step above, this means combining the pasta and sauce. You can also dust the top with some extra seasonings if you like. Smoked paprika works well for this.

Enjoy!

Want to learn more?

For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

• Butternut Squash vs Pumpkin – Which is Healthier?
• Cashew Nuts vs Coconut – Which is Healthier?
• The Many Health Benefits Of Garlic
• Black Pepper’s Impressive Anti-Cancer Arsenal (And More)
• Sea Salt vs MSG – Which is Healthier?

Take care!