Creamy Garlic Shells & Variations

Ok, not much of a photo there and those of you who follow the daily food diary will have seen these all before. This is basically a recreation of an old childhood junk food favourite of mine and one I have been trying to get right for a long time. Growing up I used to love these 'Creamy Garlic Shells' that were by Lipton and sold as part of the 'Sides' range. The idea being you serve this pasta on the side of some meat item and some veg. I loved it so much though I would often just have a big bowl of the pasta on it's own. Most Canadians would probably site Kraft dinner as their favourite "guilty pleasure" boxed pasta dish but for me it was this stuff, I couldn't get enough of it.

It was basically shells in a creamy white cheese sauce, the cheese being powdered parmesan and romano, I know, sounds gross but I really loved it!! I've made several attempts to veganize it, first with cheezly in a roux which wasn't even close, then I omitted the cheese altogether and simply made a roux with vegan milk and a Kallo Garlic and Herb stock cube thrown in and that was pretty darn close. I was happy with that.

But then Chloe Coscarelli's Mac and Cheese recipe came into my life. It's easily the best vegan mac and cheese I've tried and I have stopped even trying other nutritional yeast based ones altogether because of it. Then it dawned on me that I never tried to make this pasta using nutritional yeast to mimic the cheesy sauce. D'oh!

So I based this completely on her recipe, omitting the tomato paste as I didn't want this orange and increasing the ground garlic and adding dried parsley - all features of the original. I seriously cannot thank her enough as this is so incredibly spot on I cannot tell the difference. Mega happy :-)

While I love it with small shells as that's how I remember this the sauce goes so well with other pasta. I made it with tagliatelle with tenderstem broccoli which was gorgeous:

 ♥

Then we had it with traditional macaroni on the side of a store bought disgusting vegan kiev and some tenderstem broccoli. If the kiev wasn't yucky this would have really worked!

It also works perfectly as a creamy sauce in a vegetable pot pie! This turned out so well I've since updated my last Creamy Vegetable Pot Pie recipe with it - just click on the link there for the recipe. Gorgeous!

I further made a variation on this recipe - Creamy Garlic Mushroom Penne - this was beautiful, I've been after a good creamy mushroom sauce for a while now and this is it! I've added sliced mushrooms and replaced the salt with a mushroom stock cube for extra mushroom flavour. Beautiful. Recipe below!

Now, this is usually a traditional roux sauce where you melt the butter then add the flour and stir for 1 minute then slowly start adding the milk mixed with the yeast, salt, garlic powder and parsley, stirring well after each addition then simmering until thick.

However, I've since discovered the "all in one" roux method where you simply add it all to the pot and bring to a simmer, whisking now and again until thick and creamy and you know what? I can't tell the difference, I've used this method the past 4 times making this and it turns out perfect every time with no lumps and is so much easier - especially on the arms! So, if you feel safer doing it the traditional way, go right ahead but I'll post the "all in one" method here :-)


Creamy Garlic Shells: serves 3

225g small shells
30g vegan butter
20g plain flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes, ground to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle.
1 tsp EACH salt, garlic powder, parsley, lemon juice and light agave syrup - I've also used Sweet Freedom syrup instead of the agave and it was perfect.

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.

Meanwhile make the sauce: In a pyrex jug measure out the milk then add the yeast, salt, garlic powder and parsley and whisk well. (I hold the whisk between both hands and rub back and forth) Pour this into a saucepan and add the butter and sprinkle over the flour. Turn the heat onto high and whisk until the flour dissolves then just whisk now and again while the butter melts. As it comes to a simmer and it looks smooth switch from a whisk to a wooden spoon and simply stir now and again until thick and creamy. It's a lot easier! Turn off the heat then stir in the lemon juice and agave and pour over the cooked drained pasta and stir over low heat for a couple of minutes until the pasta is well coated with sauce.

While it's great on it's own this can take a lot of veg added: broccoli like I did, asparagus would be nice, as would peas - whatever you like really!

Source: Very much based on Chloe Coscarelli's Mac and Cheese.



Nutritional Information: based on 1 serving

Calories: 387
Protein: 15.7g
Fat: 7.8g
Sat Fat: 1.5g
Carbs: 65.5g
Sugar: 3.9g
Fibre: 3.7g
Sodium: 868.3mg

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Creamy Garlic Mushroom Penne: serves 3


225g penne pasta
30g vegan butter
20g plain flour
250g sliced mushrooms
1 1/2 cups unsweetened soy milk
1 mushroom stock cube - I used Kallo Organic Mushroom
1/4 cup nutritional yeast flakes, ground to a fine powder in a mortar and pestle.
1 tsp EACH garlic powder, parsley, lemon juice and light agave syrup - I've also used Sweet Freedom syrup instead of the agave and it was perfect.

For this one you will need to make a traditional roux - all in one won't work here I'm afraid :-(

Cook the pasta according to package instructions.

Meanwhile make the sauce: In a small saucepan measure out the milk then add the yeast, stock cube, garlic powder and parsley and stir. Turn the heat onto low and heat whilst stirring just until the stock cube is dissolved and mixed in.

In a large saucepan add the butter, turn the heat to high and when melted add the mushrooms. Fry until the mushrooms are well coated in butter then add a small pinch of sea salt and a few grinds of black pepper. Keep frying until the start to wilt then reduce the heat to low to let them sweat. When almost all the liquid has evaporated but there is still some there add the flour and fry on low for about a minute.

Now slowly start adding the warmed milk mixture, a little at a time and beat well with a wooden spoon until smooth after each addition. When all the milk has been added turn the heat up to high and keep stirring until thick and creamy. Now stir in the lemon juice and agave then add the well drained penne and stir until very well coated in sauce. Serve immediately!


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