Vegan Poblano Macaroni

Poblano spaghetti is a common side dish used in a lot of Mexican dishes. This little mysterious green pasta always looked and tasted so delicious back in my carnivorous days. The creamy texture, the mild spicy-ness, and the funky green color were always so enticing. I never learned to make this side dish until I was vegan though! I always enjoyed this when someone else cooked it lol...

So when we switched our diet and slowly felt low on options, I started exploring ways to bring back some of the dishes I would eat prior to our diet change. I had to brain storm and figure out a way to make new ingredients work for me. Some ingredients were flat out rejected by my taste buds but luckily, I was able to find something that worked for this recipe!

Ingredients:

• Vegetable Stock (about 2 cups)
• 8oz Tofutti Cream Cheese Style Spread
• 2 Poblano Peppers
• 1 box of your favorite pasta (I used whole wheat macaroni but have also used spaghetti noodles in the past.)
• Salt & pepper to taste

1. In a toaster oven, broil your washed and dried poblano peppers. Keep an eye on these bad boys. The "skin" of the peppers will bubble up and once it does, it is time to turn it to get those bubbles to pop up on all sides of the peppers. (These bubbles help loosen the "skin" of the peppers which will later be removed.)
2. Once your peppers are bubbly all around (this step can take anywhere from 8-10 minutes,) take the peppers out of the toaster oven and place them in a container with a lid. Let them sit in their own steam for about 5 minutes or so. In the mean time, you can start cooking your pasta according to package instructions. 
3. Take your peppers and carefully remove the "skin." It should be fairly simple, it's just a paper thin layer. Remove the stem and take out the seeds if you don't like a lot of heat. (These peppers are not generally super hot but they can give you a little kick if you're not used to eating spicy food. 
4. In a blender, pour your vegetable stock, add some salt and pepper to taste, and add your "skinned" peppers. Blend these ingredients until fairly smooth. 
5. In a pan or small pot, heat up your vegetable stock and add in the entire package of Tofutti Cream Cheese Spread. Take a whisk to your sauce and make sure that the "cream cheese" is blended really well into the stock. Bring your sauce to a boil and keep whisking. You want to reduce your sauce slightly but not too much! I would say this step can take about 5-8 minutes on medium to medium high heat. 

That's it! Combine your pasta with the sauce and toss it together until it is generously coated and serve as a side dish or as a main course if you want to pair it up with a protein. You can get creative and add veggies to your pasta. You can serve this as a side to some grilled tofu. Your options are endless! It's a creamy dish with a nice spicy kick to it. In my case, I used a chopped up Boca Chik'n Patty. My sisters and I can't get enough of it! :) I hope you enjoy it too!

~Norm