I realise everyone has their sad story to tell at some point in their life but I have to be honest with you, this past fortnight has been really tough going for me. One of my friends was tragically killed in a horrific car accident at the tender age of 27 years. She was a head strong and outspoken girl, much like myself at times with a heart of gold. She was also a fervent lover of animals and we totally connected on these two levels. She cared for her fur-kids with the utmost level of love and attention and her death left many of us feeling numb in disbelief. It wasn’t until her funeral that it finally sunk in for many of us, we would never see her smiling face again. As I watched my dear friends pluck up their courage to give their eulogies before hundreds of mourners, it was as touching as it was heartbreaking.
In a desperate attempt to soothe my grieving soul, I was inspired to create a comforting dish that I have lusted after for weeks; truffled mac and cheese. After all my dairy indulgences at the Truffle Kerfuffle food festival I needed to make a version of this homely food without punishing my immune system. And here it is; my gluten free truffled vegan mac and cheese.
You will be surprised at the level of cheesy flavour this dish imparts. The Boy is lucky enough to be blessed with no food intolerances and the concept of a vegan mac and cheese sounded like total gobbledegook to him. Despite his apprehension that I wouldn’t be able to prepare him something worth eating, he managed to devour not just his own serve but wolfed down the extra bowl that I prepared for the following night’s dinner.
For my pasta I used some Barilla gluten free elbows that the lovely people at Barilla sent to me to try a few months back. For those of you who have tried gluten free pasta before, you will appreciate that achieving an al-dente texture is not that easy and many brands will go from chewy and hard to literally falling part in the space of a few seconds. The Barilla pasta cooked to a beautiful texture and I honestly think you could serve it up without telling anyone it’s gluten free and no one would know.
I finished off this dish with a combination of truffle oil and grated fresh Manjimup black truffles. When it is not truffle season, you can opt for using just truffle oil. Keep your left over fresh truffle in a sealed container of uncooked rice to allow the truffle aroma to impart into the rice.
- Packet Barilla gluten free pasta elbows
- ¾ cup raw pine nuts
- 1&3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
- ¼ cup of grapeseed oil
- 1.5 tablespoons gluten free corn flour/starch
- ¼ cup of nutritional yeast
- 1 tablespoon of white or rice miso
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¼-1/2 teaspoon salt (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon of thyme
- Truffle oil and fresh black truffle for garnishing
- Preheat oven to 180C
- Soak pine nuts in water for 2-3 hours or overnight. Drain and add to blender. Blend until crumbly.
- In a heavy saucepan, combine almond milk, oil and corn flour and stir until cornflour dissolved. Bring to simmer over high heat. Once cornflour totally dissolved add mixture to blender. (Note make sure you check your blender is heat-resistant. I use my Omniblend blender which is resistant to very high temperatures).
- Add nutritional yeast, miso, lemon juice, ½ tablespoon of thyme and salt into blender and blend on high until smooth.
- Meanwhile cook pasta elbows as per packet directions. Drain pasta.
- Place cooked pasta in ovenproof bowls and top with blended sauce mixture.
- Cook in the preheated oven for 15-25 minutes or until top becomes crunchy and slightly browned.
- Remove from oven and drizzle with generous amounts of truffle oil. Shave fresh truffle if available lavishly over the top.
- Enjoy while it’s hot!
This is an original recipe by Chompchomp
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This looks incredible! My mother has a gluten intolerance, and I’ll be sure to share this with her.
Also your disclaimer regarding truffle sampling is excellent
Thanks Donovan, I was impressed with how cheesy it turned out. And as for the truffles….well you’re West Australian…you know how we all get in winter. Truffle mad we are! 😉
I’m sorry to hear about your friend. A life cut short is always devastating. I am sure she is with you still, and I think she would have very much approved of this incredible dish too
Thanks Helen. Such a huge loss and I appreciate your kind thoughts xx
So sorry about your friend, Martine. I hope this delicious dish brought you some much needed comfort. x
Thanks Tara, so kind of you. Homely food sure has a way of helping healing and recovery.
What a lovely way to remember a friend and each time you make it, you will remember her again. Looks delicious by the way and great for those who need to avoid dairy – I have a brother and nephew, so will send to them – not sure if they will include the shaved truffle!:)
Sorry for your loss Martine. This dish looks lovely and I love the way you keep the truffle in the uncooked rice, what a great idea!
Thanks April. I was surprised how much flavour it takes up!
All my condolences for your friends. Sorry for your loss
Thanks Olivia x
I am so, so sorry to read this Martine. The loss of a friend is horrible, but the loss of someone very young and vibrant seems like an even greater wrong… And a huge void left behind. I am glad that you could console yourself with some true winter comfort food like this truffled mac and cheese. It looks gorgeously cheesy… I am amazed at how cheesy vegan food can be, I’ve made similar substitutes with Mexican food and loved it! Anyway, it seems wrong to talk about food after reading your intro, even though I know that we are foodie pals. I will be thinking of your friend’s family, fur kids and everyone else she touched in life and afterwards. Sending you heaps of hugs xoxoxox
You are such a sweetheart thank you for your heartfelt words. It has been hard to comprehend and makes me really appreciate my love ones even more as you never know what’s around the corner.
Oh my god how beautiful does that Mac & Cheese look. Such a lovely post this is. Absolutely loved reading it.
Thank you Bhavna, it was the just the right medicine for my soul!
ChompChomp, I am very sorry to read about your friend – my thoughts are with you xxxxx
I did’t realise that Barilla do a GF range, have you seen it in shops? I usually shop at Coles and have not seen it there yet – is it fairly new?
Thanks
Hi Courtney, thank for your kind words. You can find the Barilla GF pasta range in Woolies or select IGAs. Let me know if you have trouble and I can get more specific shops for you.