Vegan butternut squash mac & cheese

Ingredients

Serves 4

1/3 cup of raw cashews (50g)
500g of butternut squash, pealed and largely diced (about 3 big cups)
1 onion, roughly sliced
4 garlic cloves
8 small-medium sage leaves
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of nutritional yeast (19g)
1 tbsp + 1 tsp of organic lemon juice
1 tsp of turmeric powder
1 tsp of dijon mustard
1 tsp of cayenne pepper
1/2 a tsp of hot chili powder (or 1tsp if you like heat)
1/4 tsp of ground nutmeg
3/4 cup of reserved pasta water

400-500 g of gluten-free pasta (red lentil, chickpea, brown rice)

Instructions

1) Preheat oven to 180°C. In a small bowl, cover the cashews with boiling water to soak, set aside (you can also soak them in water over night). Layout the butternut squash, onions, sage and 3 of the garlic cloves on a sheet pan, massage with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake squash until it’s tender, for about 25mins.

2) Remove sheet pan from the oven. Place the squash, garlic, onions and sage into a food processor and blend until smooth. Drain the cashews and blend them with the rest. Now blend in the nutritional yeast, mustard, lemon juice, all the spices and season with salt and pepper.

3) Cook your pasta, and remember to reserve 3/4 cup of the water. Slowly incorporate the pasta water into the pumpkin cheese while blending. Once perfectly smoothe, mix your pumpkin cheese with your pasta.