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Creamy Vegan Truffle Mac with Crunchy Kale Topping

5 from 11 reader reviews
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings 4
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Ingredients

Crunchy Kale

  • 4 cups chopped kale, lightly packed
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¾ teaspoon onion powder
  • sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste

Truffle Mac

  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 1 medium leek (white and light green parts only), sliced (1 heaped cup sliced leeks)
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • ¾ teaspoon onion powder
  • ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
  • ¾ teaspoon paprika
  • 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped (1 cup chopped potato)
  • ½ small butternut squash, peeled and chopped (1 cup chopped squash)
  • 1 small zucchini, peeled and chopped (1 cup chopped zucchini)
  • 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped (½ cup chopped carrot)
  • sea salt and ground black pepper, to taste
  • 1 ½ cups vegetable stock or water
  • 1 roasted red pepper (from a jar)
  • ½ cup raw cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours and drained
  • ¼ cup nutritional yeast
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 ½ tablespoons light miso
  • 2 teaspoons grainy mustard
  • 2 teaspoons truffle oil
  • 1 teaspoon Tamari
  • 1 lb (454 grams) elbow pasta (I used whole wheat)

Instructions

Make the crunchy kale:

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Place the kale on the baking sheet and toss with the olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. Rub the oil and seasoning into the leaves and then spread out in a single layer. Bake in the oven until beginning to crisp up, about 15 minutes. The kale will continue to crisp as it cools. Set aside.

Make the vegan truffle mac:

  • Heat a medium (3 quart) saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, pour in the olive oil and swirl it around. Add the leeks and sauté until soft, about 3-4 minutes. Add the garlic, onion powder, garlic powder, and paprika. Sauté for another minute.
  • Add the chopped potato, butternut squash, zucchini, and carrot to the pot and stir. Season well with salt and pepper. Pour in the vegetable stock and cover the pot. Bring the vegetables to a boil and then simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, about 15 minutes.
  • Transfer the vegetables and broth to an upright blender. To the blender, add the roasted red pepper, drained cashews, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, miso, mustard, truffle oil, and Tamari. Blend this mixture on high until you have a thick and creamy sauce, adding more stock/water if necessary. Give the sauce a taste and adjust seasoning to your tastes if necessary (more salt, lemon, truffle oil etc).
  • Cook the pasta according to package directions, drain, and return to the pot. Pour the sauce over the pasta and stir to combine. Put the pot back on the stove to heat through if necessary.
  • To serve, portion the truffle mac into bowls and then crush the crunchy kale over top with your hands. I like to grind extra black pepper on the top as well.

Equipment

Recipe Notes

  •  I prefer roasted red peppers in a jar here because they tend to be sweeter and have more flavour overall. 
  • Cashews really do make this sauce so creamy. If you need to substitute them, my go-tos are raw sunflower seeds, pine nuts, or raw macadamia nuts (soak mac nuts for at least 8 hours).
  • Peeling the zucchini enhances the creamy orange colour of the sauce. If the visuals are not important to you, you can leave the skin on.
  • You need just enough vegetable stock/water to barely cover the vegetables as they simmer. If in doubt, veer towards less as you can always add more to the blender when whizzing up the sauce at the end.
  • The truffle oil that I buy (by Martelli Foods) contains just olive oil and white truffle. I recommend seeking out something similar!
This creamy vegan truffle mac contains 7 vegetables! The lush texture of the blended sauce comes from cooked squash, potato, zucchini, and roasted red pepper. Leeks, miso, garlic, nutritional yeast, spices, lemon, and truffle oil bring flavour and depth to the sauce.