Bethany's Vegan Kitchen

Fried meat free bacon and macaroni in a cheesy sauce, wrapped in flaky puff pastry. This combines two favourite foods of mine, macaroni cheese and pasties. I think this hearty comfort food combination is best enjoyed while still warm from the oven

I’ve seen in huge increase in the amount of meat free bacon and dairy free cheese available in the UK. So I would suggest using your favourite, I’ll also share exactly which products I used, should you wish to use the same me

Yield; Four large pasties Cook time; 40-45 minutes

There are a few stages involved in making these, so I’ll break it down into three parts

Starting with the bacon

You’ll need;

1. One teaspoon of oil
2. 75g meat free bacon, I used four rashers of meat free bacon from Aldi

Method;

• Start by heating the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once the oil has warmed up, add in the bacon
• Fry for three or four minutes on each side, or until the bacon starts to crisp up at the edges. Once it has, remove it from the pan and pop it onto a kitchen roll lined plate to absorb any excess oil

Now, the macaroni cheese

You’ll need;

1. 15g plain, all purpose flour
2. 15g dairy free butter/margarine
3. 175ml plant milk, warmed
4. 30g grated dairy free cheese
5. Half a teaspoon of dijon mustard
6. One teaspoon of nutritional yeast
7. Salt and black pepper to taste
8. 150g (this is the dry, uncooked weight) macaroni
9. The bacon you just fried, diced

Method;

• To cut down on the prep time, I cooked the pasta while I was making the sauce. So you’ll need a large saucepan for the pasta, and a smaller one for the sauce
• Fill the large saucepan with water and bring it to a boil. Cook the pasta as per the instructions on the pack
• Add the dairy free butter/margarine into the small saucepan over a medium heat. Once melted, pop in the flour and whisk them together. Allow the flour to cook for three or four minutes and then add in the milk, a little at a time
• Once the milk is added, add the cheese, mustard, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper. Once that’s seasoned to your liking, add in the diced bacon and stir it through the sauce
• When the pasta is cooked, drain it thoroughly and then stir it through the sauce. Now you can leave the macaroni cheese to cool to room temperature

Making the pasties

You’ll need;

1. The macaroni cheese as listed above
2. 375g ready rolled puff pastry
3. A couple of tablespoons of plant milk, for sealing and glazing
4. A couple of tablespoons of plain flour, for dusting your hands to handle the pastry

Method;

• Allow the pastry to come to room temperature first, then unroll it and using a sharp knife, slice it into four equal quarters
• Spoon one quarter of the macaroni cheese onto half of each quarter of pastry. Then brush the edges of the pastry with a little milk, and fold the other half of the pastry over the filling
• Press down on the pastry edges, then crimp or press down with a fork to seal. Brush the top of the pasties with a little more milk, and prick a few holes in the top
• Bake for 18-20 minutes at 200°C/180°C fan assisted, or until the pastry is golden brown. Once baked, transfer them to a cooling rack to cool for at least ten minutes before serving