Sequestration Meal #285

 

For weeks I've been wanting to make my mock tuna noodle casserole, even though I don't have my beloved macaroni dumplings. Eventually I settled on gemelli pasta. Macaroni dumplings they are not, but they worked. I probably would have used plain elbow macaroni or penne if I'd had them, but I didn't.

That chickpea cake that stands in for the tuna will never cease to amaze me with how tasty it is! And it's been far too long since I made one of those potato-carrot-onion-cashew-nutritional yeast cheese sauces. I still remember how dumbfounded I was by the first one I ever made, long ago, at how not like root vegetables it was, and how creamy. I think there are probably easier ways to go about making something like this, but this old recipe of mine has a special place in my heart. Without mock meats, I made something delightful. It does ask for non-dairy cheese but you could just as easily leave it out and make a cracker crumble topping. This does not require specialty ingredients (unless nutritional yeast counts; I don't count it as such) and it's both accessible and familiar without being too much like actual tuna.

Veganism seemed so hard and confusing once upon a time. This casserole was one of the first true bright lights to reassure me that it didn't have to be, even though it's honestly a pretty complex recipe.

I was feeling profoundly sad when I made this. There is still a lot to be sad about. But I'm still trying. I hope you are, too, if you're feeling sad.