Hetty McKinnon makes Creamy Tahini “Mac & Cheese” with Tater Tots

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. Feel free to pause, jump back, or navigate the steps via the podcast chapters.

If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today. Go ahead and grab the ingredients below (Hetty starts listing them at 1:08) before  starting the episode.

Creamy Tahini “Mac + Cheese” with Tater Tots

• 1 pound short pasta
• Sea salt
• 7 ounces green beans, cut to 1-inch lengths
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 pounds frozen tater tots, defrosted

1. Preheat oven to 400˚F.
    
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the pasta, stirring. Cook according to the packet instructions until al dente, adding the beans for the last 60 seconds and cooking until the veggies are crisp and bright green. Reserving 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water, drain the pasta and veggies.
    
3. For the creamy tahini sauce, add the tahini, lemon juice, garlic and the reserved pasta water to a blender or small food processor. Blend until smooth and creamy. If the sauce is too thick, add more water to thin it down. Add the nutritional yeast, olive oil and stir to combine. Season well with sea salt and black pepper.
    
4. Add the creamy tahini to the pasta and beans along with a splash or two of the reserved pasta cooking water and toss together to combine. Transfer to an ovenproof dish and arrange the tater tots over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the tots are golden. Serve hot.

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Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
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