"Creamy" vegan tomato sauce

This sauce plus some veggies make a tasty pasta bake!

I guess it's not often a new recipe is created because of a family debate, but I made this sauce as a kind of compromise to satisfy everyone! Let me explain: regular readers will know that in our household some of us are vegan and some eat dairy. In addition to this, some prefer gluten free pasta and some the wholemeal variety and most of us like a tomato sauce with our pasta while one favours a cheese-like white sauce. Needless to say, whichever type of bake we cook there is bound to be at least one person who isn't happy with it. I don't believe in making two different dinners on one night, so I decided to give everyone the best of both worlds and make just one sauce that was both creamy and tomato-y. (I did, however, make one dish of wholewheat pasta and one of gluten free, plus I gave the kids the option to grate cheese on top of theirs.) This pretty pink sauce is based on our vegan white sauce and is a simple roux-based sauce to which some extra seasonings and tomato puree have been added. It would also be great in a vegetable pie, or over steamed veg with a grain such as barley or rice.

-And the outcome for us tonight? A happy dinner time, and all the pasta eaten up in minutes!

This recipe makes about 1 1/4 litres of sauce, this was enough to use in pasta bake for six.
4 tabs olive oil
3 rounded tabs plain wheat flour (corn flour for those who avoid gluten)
1 rounded tab tomato puree
1 litre unsweetened soya milk
1/2 -1/3 tsp black pepper
1 tsp seasalt
2 tsps paprika
1/2 tsp compound hing
3 rounded tabs yeast flakes (aka nutritional yeast)

• Make a roux with the oil and flour, and stir in the tomato puree. (A roux means you heat the oil and whisk in the flour to make a smooth paste.)
• Use a balloon whisk to add the soya milk gradually over a gentle heat, ensuring there are no lumps.
• Stir in the yeast flakes and seasonings. The sauce should thicken somewhat at this stage.
• When thickened, remove the sauce from the heat and use in your recipe or keep in the fridge/ freezer until needed.

Note: Next time I will try this with a little mustard powder for extra "bite"; if you try ihis too, do let us know how it turned out!