Friday, April 9, 2010

Raw cashew cheese… what did I do with out you?

Id say raw cashew cheese is my new favorite condiment other than hot sauce of course and Lauren even likes it?!?? Wild I know! There is nothing fancy about it at all, just soaked cashews, water, some acidity (i.e. lemon, apple cider vinegar), salt and pepper, and a blender. The great thing is it can give a great creamy touch to any dish and be healthy. I will admit I was a bit intimidated at first when I heard about nut cheeses, but I promise there is nothing to it, just a little forethought for the soaking. I'm hoping to dial in a few recipes using nut cheese as a base in the next few weeks to post. Since I'm not a fan of silken tofu for cheese sauces, I feel that nut creams are more of my style anyways.

The Asian super market near us has mostly everything you need. I really enjoy the fresh pasta they carry that is made in Brooklyn, NY. Some do have egg, but you can find many that are vegan with a small list of ingredients. I found some fettuccine type noodles there that I had not tried and wanted to give them a go. I was down to the end of my home made marinara and figured I should use it up before it went south. My end result was fettuccine tossed in marinara and topped with basil pesto with roasted almonds, cashew cream, and of course some nutritional yeast. I had never really tried marinara with pesto too much before last year but I love it! The acidity of the marinara with the rich, freshness of the basil pesto… its what dreams are made of and throw in the creamy, silky texture of the cashew cream, good lord.

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4 comments:

Jason said...

Are you talking about Spring Garden Market? I love that place. It's a wonderland of confusing, strange and wonderful produce in there!

Eric said...

Hah yah on 4th & Spring Garden.. its a wild wild place for sure. I love it though, so many new things to try.

Agreed, there is little reason to use store bought cheese. Though I will say that Daiya I had the other day was good, but I will leave that for special occasions at the pizza place Got to watch the figure :)

Jason said...

I think it's best if you have a smart phone or some kind of internet with you so you can look stuff up as you're browsing.

Katie said...

I've only ever made sweet cashew cheese (with dried cherries) but it was still pretty freaking good. I'll have to try it out on pasta! Sadly my boyfriend won't get near anything "white and creamy," but that just means more for me!