Ah, the casserole. It takes me back to potluck dinners at the Lutheran church, where The Covered Dish is something of an art form. You can bring this one that’s totally healthy (and secretly vegan), and no one will ever know. Hearty pasta, spicy chorizo, and healthy kale meld with a creamy cheesy sauce that bakes under a layer of cornbread crumbs. What could be better on a chilly Sunday evening?
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I combined finely shredded kale with soy chorizo, cooked the pasta, then poured over the sauce straight from the blender. Leftover cornbread that went stale in the freezer makes the crispy topping, which gets a quick dusting of minced cilantro before serving. This goes into the oven in about 15 minutes, and is Husband tested and approved!
Do you have a favorite casserole memory? Tell us about it in the comments!
Suitable for:
vegan, gluten-free, reduced-sugar diets
Not for:
low-sodium or migraine diets
All of our recipes are gluten-free, sugar-free, and made with plant-based ingredients to help you build a healthy life. Suitable for Meatless Monday. Look for midweek posts on meditation, service, and life lessons, helping you create inner balance.
Cheesy pasta casserole with sausage, greens, and cornbread crumb topping
Ingredients
Casserole
- 8 ounces pasta (gluten-free) radiatore or rotini
- 4 cups kale finely shredded (100 g)
- 8 ounces soy chorizo (or quinrizo)
- 2 pieces corn bread 3 ounces (about 90 g)
Cashew cheez sauce
- 1/2 cup cashew butter (130 g)
- 3 tbsp lemon juice (fresh)
- 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 1-1/2 tbsp miso light or chickpea
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 pinch garlic powder
- 1 cup water (filtered or spring)
Instructions
Casserole
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/gas mark 4.
- Cook the pasta according to package directions, usually about 10 minutes. Make sure you use a big pot, a lot of water, and have it really boiling. I add a good spoonful of salt and a small splash of olive oil, which seems to help the gluten-free pasta's consistency.
- Finely shred the kale after removing the tough stems. Saute the kale with the soy chorizo in a skillet with a small amount of oil while the pasta is cooking.
- After taste-testing the pasta to make sure it's just cooked through but not too soft, drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Drain well.
- Make the Cashew Cheez Sauce.
- Spray a heatproof casserole dish with cooking spray. Toss the pasta with the kale-chorizo mixture (I use the rinsed-out pasta pan for this), then pour over the cheez sauce. Toss until everything is well-coated. Pour into the prepared casserole dish.
- Crumble the stale cornbread into crumbs, making an even layer on top.
- Bake for 30 minutes until the top is golden brown. Finely chop some fresh cilantro and sprinkle over the top.
Cashew cheez sauce
- Place all ingredients in the blender except the water and blend until a smooth consistency. Add water until you get a thin pourable sauce. It will thicken as it bakes, so don't make it too thick.
Notes
- 275 calories
- 14 g fat
- 2 g saturated fat
- 5 g monounsaturated fat
- 2 g polyunsaturated fat
- 0 g trans fat
- 0 g cholesterol
- 377 mg sodium
- 252 mg potassium
- 33 g carbohydrate
- 5 g fiber
- 2 g sugars
- 10 g protein
- 8 Weight Watchers Points Plus
from The Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook
by Jo Stepaniak Used with permission
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Hi Stephanie,
The most basic “peasant food” dish in Romania, almost their national dish I would say, is mamaliga (mah mah lee’ gah). I tried desperately and unsuccessfully to recreate when I was back in America. Their corn and cornmeal is different, plus it has to be cooked in a special pot called a ceaun (che ah oon). I got mine at a local market, hand made by a farm woman. It is perfectly hemispherical, and mamaliga can only be cooked over fire.
John’s Mamaliga
Boil water, add salt and enough corn meal to make a soupy mixture. Simmer for a minute, then add while stirring more cornmeal until it is thick. Then you stand over it, stirring and adding more water until it is a thick but not stiff consistency, turn down the heat, and wait about 30 min. Then you “tump” it out onto a plate. Makes a nice golden mound. On the side serve big slices of fresh farm cheese called telemea (tay lay may ah) or cas (cahsh), and smantana ( took me 6 months to pronounce this one! smun tuh nuh…kind of, but with dental consonants) which is a live, fermented sour cream, and salat de varza…finely minced white cabbage dressed with sunflower oil, salt and apple vinegar. Eat with big slices of the fresh local bread.
Not vegan, but absolutely divine, stick to your ribs food. It would take some doing to cook it in America. But Sarmale, a very much loved tradition, can be made easily and also can be vegan. I will pass that on if you are interested. Romanian food is the best I have ever had, with Mexican a close tie, and it is so good, so pure that I would stay in Romania just to be able to live on their diet.
Carolyn
Wow, this looks delectable! I am a vegetarian who just had to give up wheat. It’s been a tough transition, not the least of which was learning how to get over having the convenience of flour and bread and pastas for quick meals. Thanks for this great recipe. I live in Romania right now so I can’t get these things, but the Romanians do amazing things with cornmeal. There are actually a lot of vegetarians here and veggie pate is easily available in all the shops.
Carolyn, You are my first ever commenter from Romania. Wow, I would love to learn more about the food there, and I LOVE cornmeal so I am intrigued by your comment. Thanks so much for saying hello and let me know if you have requests for recipes, or want to share dishes from Romania, which would be fascinating. Happy eating!