Creamy Broccoli & Mushroom Tagliatelle

This is my first favourite creamy pasta I’ve made since going vegan. Pretty easy, you could throw in some vegan bacon into this dish too.

Ingredients:

• half head of broccoli sliced into smaller heads.
• half pack of button mushrooms chopped into small pieces
• tagliatelle (desired amount)
• 1/3 red onion
• chopped garlic (preferred amount)
• 3-4 heaped tablespoon of vegan butter (I use flora buttery)
• 2 tablespoons of plain flour
• soy milk
• vegetable stock (1 cube/portion)
• 1 tablespoon of nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon dollop of vegan cream cheese (regular or garlic and chive)
• salt and pepper
• Small square piece of vegan mozzarella (I use Violife) I use 1/4 of the block. You could try another vegan cheese.

Method:

1. Fill two pots with boiled water (quicker!), set them on medium heat and cook your broccoli and pasta. Add salt to both. Keep an eye on them, and remove from heat when cooked.
2. (Tip: If you like, have a bowl of ice cold water ready once your broccoli is cooked. Drain broccoli and add to ice water. This helps retain the green colour. You will have to heat it again though.)
3. Set a frying pan on medium heat. Add oil and chopped garlic. (I use 1 and a half teaspoons of chopped garlic.)
4. Once garlic is sizzling, add finely sliced/diced red onion to the pan.
5. Add your butter to the pan. (Add more during process if you like it to be creamier.)
6. Now add your chopped mushrooms to the pan. Leave to cook through on low-medium heat. Add more butter or oil here if drying up, and take off heat when mixture is cooked through.
7. Grab a pot and put it on low heat. Make traditional ‘white sauce’ by adding 2 tablespoons of butter to the pan, allowing it to melt (not sizzle – that’s too hot), then adding flour bit by bit while whisking it into the butter constantly until you’ve made a smooth paste (you may not need all the flour.) Keep moving pot off heat to keep control.
8. Slowly add soy milk in drips to the pan and keep whisking to turn the paste into a sauce with no lumps.
9. Once you’ve got what resembles a sauce (don’t want it thin), take it off the heat and season with salt and pepper.
10. Grab a mug/measuring jug, add your veg stock to the mug, and add water so that it covers the stock.
11. Whisk stock into water with a fork, and once combined, add to your sauce.
12. Return pot to a low heat. Add a dollop of cream cheese to your sauce, and whisk in.
13. Grate your wee block of cheese into the sauce and whisk in.
14. Add nutritional yeast to the sauce and whisk in.
15. Now taste sauce, and season/add more ingredients if necessary.
16. Drain you pasta and broccoli and add to the pan of mushroom/onion mix. Pour your sauce over the top and combine together.
17. You can always grate some vegan Parmesan on top to finish.