Cashew Habanero Mac & Cheese

Mac and cheese: a classic childhood comfort, a favourite family staple, a warm and filling homemade indulgence. Throughout my childhood I frequently enjoyed the 'Grade A' and 'Grade C' macaroni and cheese variations: Grade A = my mom's homemade baked mac and cheese with stewed tomatoes; Grade C = the processed blue box of cheesy macaroni by the makers over at Kraft. (P.S. Take a peak at this slightly hilarious 1980's commercial for Kraft Dinner below).

While I loved both styles of macaroni growing up, as I've grown older (and hopefully a tad wiser) I've developed a preference for dishes that are more wholesome, nutritious, and unprocessed, but still tasty and delicious. I think I'd enjoy making my mom's old homemade baked mac and cheese with a habanero kick, but tonight I had a bag of raw cashews begging to be used, so I thought I'd go for a vegan variation on mac and cheese.

The real prize in this dish, (aside from the velvety, creamy cashew sauce... I really love cashews), is the local habanero hot sauce by Heartbeat Hot Sauce Co. from Thunder Bay, ON. I've been home for the holidays for the past few weeks (#tbaylove), and it was a treat in so many ways. From visiting with my family to catching up with old friends, from enjoying old hobbies to eating out at favourite restaurants, from cuddling with my fur babies to taking in the sights of the Sleeping Giant, I enjoyed every single nanosecond of my time home. I'm hopeful to come back to the Bay in the future, whenever I wrap up my school program and semi-sortof figure out what I'm doing with my career, but in the meantime I try to soak up as much as I can when I come back to visit. This habanero hot sauce was the cherry on top (or the hot sauce on top I guess?) of a great three weeks well spent in Thunder Bay!

The flavour of Heartbeat's 'Red Habanero' sauce is just perfect - not too hot, not too not hot - and it made a nice compliment to this vegan mac and cheese dish. As a New Year's resolution, I've decided that instead of #Veganuary I'm going to aim for a #VeganWednesday all year long. Today is my first #veganwednesday, and this vegan mac and cheese will definitely be a repeat dish in my kitchen. Next time I may add in some veggies to change it up. Let me know if you try this recipe out and if you like it! I was quite happy with the results. I'm also thinking the recipe could be cut in half if you wanted a smaller batch, granted there was only a small container of leftovers remaining after my boyfriend and I enjoyed this dish for dinner... but again granted we are mac and cheese addicts and regularly shovel back mountains of cheesy pasta.

Cashew Habanero Mac & Cheese

Vegan Prep Time: 15 minutes (minus overnight soaking of cashews)

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Yield: 1 large pot (6-8 servings)

Adapted from Minimalist Baker's Vegan Green Chili Mac n Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1/2 large white onion, diced

• 4 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 1/2 cups of raw cashews, pre-soaked overnight in a jar

• 1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

• 2 heaping tablespoons nutritional yeast

• 1/3 cup habanero hot sauce (try Thunder Bay local Heartbeat sauce, red habanero)

• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

• sea salt and black pepper

• 10 ounces or approx. 4 cups of macaroni shells

Directions:

1. In a skillet over medium heat, sauté the onion and garlic with olive oil. Season with sea salt and black pepper. Cook until soft, approximately 6-7 minutes, then put aside.

2. Simultaneously boil macaroni according to package instructions.

3. Add sautéed onions and garlic to a high-speed blender with all other ingredients (cashews, vegetable broth, cornstarch, chili powder, nutritional yeast, habanero sauce, and additional sea salt and pepper). Blend until velvety smooth. Add more vegetable broth if you find its a tad too thick. Similarly you can use an immersion blender to blend everything together.

4. Drain the pasta. Add back into large pot and mix in a bit of olive oil or margarine if you desire. Next stir in cashew cheese sauce and warm everything over low heat to warm through.

5. Serve immediately. Top with additional habanero sauce and fresh black pepper.

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