It’s alwasy good to have a stock of this rich & tasty cheese sauce in the freezer ready to use. I like to use a variety of vegan cheeses to get a really complex flavour profile. I find that if you use all the same brand of cheese it doesn’t work as well. As with my other sauces, yes, it takes a bit of time to add all the ingredients. However, when you cook in bulk, you only do it once. Then it’s just a case of defrosting what you need for a particular recipe.
This sauce can be used successfully for Welsh Rarebit, lasagne, moussaka, or any recipe that calls for a cheese sauce. For some dishes, it may need to be thinned with a little extra plant based milk.
There are a number of plant based or vegan cheeses that are good for using in this sauce. Violife Cheddar block, Scheeze red Leicester, Scheeze smoke german style, Cheezely cheddar etc. I would steer clear of Cheezely mozzarella, or violife parmesan, vegan feta – they don’t have the right flavour profile.
Use wholemeal flour and good quality cold pressed oils on a lowish heat for the basis of the roux. It’s not a problem if it goes lumpy, a quick blast with a stick blender will solve that issue. Portion up into 380g or 400g lots so that you have a ready stock of this rich & tasty cheese sauce.
Cheese Sauce
Equipment
- large (5l min) thick bottom pan
- cheese grater
- scales
Ingredients
- 5 blocks 200g per pack of vegan “cheese” – a mixture - could use, Scheese smoked, Sheese Red Leicester, Cheezely soya free, – etc – but definitely NOT Cheezely “hard cheese” – smells disgusting! Don’t use Cheezely Mozzarella.
- 200 gm of wholemeal flour could use some buckwheat or gram flour
- 150 gm of cold pressed rapeseed/olive oil
- 4 low salt veg Stock cubes – Kallo
- 2 onion stock cube – Kallo
- 1 Tablespoon or so of Balsamic.
- 1 Tablespoon spoon or so of Worcester sauce vegan
- 1 Tablespoon or so of soy sauce
- Heaped teasp Vecon
- Heaped teasp Natex/Marmite.
- 2 heaped teaspoon of Marigold low salt veg bouillon
- 2 heaped teaspoon Dijon mustard
- 2 heaped tablespoons of yeast flakes
- 3 litres of unsweetened soya milk or similar. Could use a mix. Soya almond, oat (not so good)
Instructions
- Fry the flour in the oil – until browning – stir well during this process.
- Add all of the soya/plant milk and bring to boil stirring continuously (3 litres at least - but may need a little more) to get the right pouring consistency – needs to be quite runny as it thickens up quite a lot with further cooking and after cooling.
- Chuck all the rest of the ingredients in – grating the cheese first – then blend with a stick blender to get it really smooth.
- simmer on very low for 20 minutes to cook thoroughly - stirring frequently so it doesn't burn on the bottom, or put in the oven on 125C for 30 minutes.
- Portion up into 380g lots in take-away containers
- Label up with contents & date made.
- Makes a lot – probably enough for about 5 small lasagnes or Moussakas
Notes
- 350gm is about right for a Moussaka & 350g for lasagne in the small dishes
- 190-200gm is right for welsh rarebit on one piece of toast.
- For a cheese/pasta bake in large oval style pyrex dish, use 100-110gm pasta/per oval dish & 380g of cheese sauce/dish with whatever sautéed veg you fancy – red pepper, courgette, mushroom, spring onion, leek – all work well.
Best method is to mix the veg and cooked (11-12mins so not too al dente) wholemeal pasta together, place in the dish, then pour the sauce on top, and then the grated cheese as follows, using 40-50gm each of Cheezely cheddar first, & Cheezely mozzarella style on top. Make sure to cover the dish until it’s really hot or the pasta will dry out, and only take off the foil when you want to finally brown the cheese. The last time I made it, I just used 50g of mozzarella – it worked fine also. If doing for only 10 minutes, will need longer in the oven before browning. - Rule of thumb for pasta bake 35g pasta per person, 125g cheese sauce.
