Macaroni and Cheezy Sauce

Vegan Mofo 2010 – Day 21
We returned from Vegan Hell this morning and I had a severe hangover and couldn’t hold any food down until late in the afternoon. By the time I got hungry I needed some comfort food. I didn’t have the time to do the whole “Mac Daddy” experience so I decided to make a quick and easy macaroni using Isa’s cheezy sauce from Veganomicon. Isa has given me permission to use her recipes on the blog and the end of Vegan Mofo I’ll reviews of all of her books.
Veganomicon can be found here :

Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook (South Africa – Kalahari.net)
Veganomicon: The Ultimate Vegan Cookbook (International – Amazon.com)
Put your choice of macaroni (I used wholewheat macaroni) on to boil and then start the cheezy sauce.
Cheezy Sauce
2 cups vegetable broth or water
¼ cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic minced
Pinch of fried thyme (crumbled in your fingers)
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup nutritional yeast flakes
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard
Combine the broth and flour in a measuring cup and whisk with a fork until dissolved (a couple of lumps are okay). (It’s not part of the main recipe but I add a handful of vegan bacon bit into the broth once it has been mixed)
Preheat a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
Place the oil and garlic in the pan and gently cook for about 2 minutes, stirring often and being careful not to burn the garlic.
Add the thyme, salt and pepper and cook for about 15 seconds. Add the broth turmeric and nutritional yeast, and raise the heat to medium. Use a whisk to stir constantly. The mixture should start bubbling and thickening in about 3 minutes, if it doesn’t turn the heat a bit higher.
Once the mixture is bubbling and thickening cook for about two more minutes. Add the lemon juice and mustard. The mixture should resemble a thick melty cheese. Taste for salt (you may need more depending on how salty your vegetable broth is), turn off the heat, and cover the pan to keep it warm until it is ready to use. The top might thicken a bit while it sits, but you can just stir it and it will be fine.

Once the pasta is ready I add it into the pot with the cheezy sauce and add some baked smoked tofu (cut into ½ inch cubes). For some well needed greenness I added some steamed broccoli before serving.
And yes, it was just it was the comfort food that I needed and it hit the spot.