Vegan Mac and Chees(ish)

I made a shit ton of pasta the other night.  I don't know what I was thinking.  Cooking for 3 shouldn't challenge my ability to judge portion, but here I am with 2 pounds of pasta in the fridge.  I found this recipe on CHOW.  I think it was written by Katharine Brydges.  I could be wrong, but at least I tried to give credit where it is deserved.

my photo skills are severely lacking so I force you to look at these grainy blurry poorly staged pieces of garbage that do the food absoulutely no justice. but I'm cooking to eat, not to dazzle the internet.

INGREDIENTS

•                1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons olive oil (or more for the roasted veggies)

•                2 medium yellow onions, small dice

•                1/2 medium head of broccoli (about 12 ounces), stems trimmed to 1/2 inch and cut into 1-inch florets

•                1/2 medium head of cauliflower (about 10 ounces), stems trimmed to 1/2 inch and cut into 1-inch florets

•                2 medium garlic cloves, minced

•                1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more as needed

•                1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more as needed

•                1 pound elbow macaroni

•                1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened coconut milk

•                1/3 cup whole toasted walnuts

•                2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

•                1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

•                1 teaspoon paprika

•                3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

•                3/4 cup nutritional yeast

2 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk

INSTRUCTIONS

•                Heat the oven to 400°F and arrange a rack in the middle.

•                Place 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large frying pan over medium-low heat until shimmering. Add the onions and cook, stirring rarely, until deep golden brown and caramelized, about 1 hour. Season well with salt and pepper, remove to a medium bowl, and set aside.

•                Meanwhile, place the broccoli, cauliflower, and garlic on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil, season with 1 teaspoon of the salt and 1/2 teaspoon of the black pepper, and toss to combine. Roast in the oven until the vegetables are browned in spots and cooked through, about 15 minutes. Remove the baking sheet to a wire rack and set aside.

•                Bring a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven of heavily salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the pasta and cook according to the package directions or until just al dente. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water until cooled and the pieces are no longer sticking to each other (make sure to stir the pasta while rinsing); set aside in the colander. Reserve the pot (no need to rinse).

•                While the pasta is cooking, place the coconut milk and walnuts in a blender and blend until smooth; set aside.

•                Wipe out any water in the reserved pot, add the remaining 1/4 cup of oil, and place over medium heat until shimmering. Add the flour, Dijon, paprika, cayenne, remaining 1 tablespoon of salt, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper and whisk until smooth. Cook, whisking occasionally, until the flour has darkened slightly in color, about 2 to 3 minutes. Whisk in the nutritional yeast and cook, whisking occasionally, until lightly browned, about 2 minutes.

•                While whisking constantly, slowly add the reserved coconut mixture, then the soy milk, until evenly combined and smooth. (It will get very thick when you first add the coconut mixture, then thin out when you add the soy milk.) Increase the heat to medium high and cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture comes to a simmer and thickens, about 5 minutes.

•                Stir in the reserved pasta, caramelized onions, and roasted vegetables and cook, stirring occasionally, until the pasta and vegetables are heated through and steaming, about 3 minutes. Taste and season with salt and black pepper as needed.

A quick blurb.  I am not vegan.  I get asked this question quite often these days.  Not Vegan.  I love animals.  I would do anything for my animals, I wouldn't eat them.  I like steak, though.  I like chicken. I think pigs are cute and I think bacon is decadent.  I also think that human ego is disgusting and the way the meat that we consume is acquired and processed is horrifying.  Ethics are tough in this situation.  I believe that we have an obligation to those animals that provide us with the food that we consume.  I think a great amount of dignity is lost when a cow is brutalized with a hammer by some toothless sociopath at a factory slaughterhouse.  The Nuer use an extremely sharp spear and puncture the heart of their sacrifice.  They pray for it and thank it and use every last scrap for food or tools or shelter.  They revere their cattle for they are the world in which their tribe lives.  Americans stuff their cow into warehouses and pump them full of hormones and then torture them.  I know all of this.  I've watched the Vegan Shock films.  I openly admit that I would ball my eyes out if I had to kill a pig to eat it.  The issue I struggle with, though, is this.  If all omnivores stopped eating grocery store meat and stood up for animal rights would the factory meat industry cease to exist?  What happens to the massive amount of beef cattle and pigs and chickens that were grown for consumption and couldn't ever survive on their own?  There aren't enough animal sanctuaries or stretches of land to retire them to.  I think my point (which I seem to have drafted without much backing) is that I hate knowing what I know about slaughterhouses and meat production and, sometimes, I hate that I like to eat a burger.  So just in case shit hits the fan and we are faced with a massive epidemic of mad cow or some other livestock devastating disease I'm learning how to use nutritional yeast and make egg replacer.