some nutty stuff for mr presley

i was asked by one of our regular vegan customers for the recipes for the vegan cheeses that we have done. i have to give credit to bryanna clark grogan for the inspiration and would advise anyone interested in vegan cookery to seek out her site online. three nut recipes that we have used recently are the pine nut and horseradish cream (for the beetroot and walnut risotto), the vegan feta (currently in the fatayer) and the vegan ricotta (in the crespelle). to make these nut cheeses is pretty easy, so long as you have a decent food processor or blender.

pine nut cream

toast the pine nuts then add water lemon juice and salt and blend using a powerful hand blender. add the water (could be soy milk) little by little until you have the consistency of whipped cream. we then used some white wine vinegar(a little), mustard ( a little) and freshly grated horseradish (quite a lot) to make the finished product.

tofu-cashew ricotta: process the cashews to a fine crumb. process the tofu and add lemon juice and salt. mix with the nuts, add a little oil and some water and process with a hand blender. for the crespelle we add parsley, pine nuts, lemon zest and juice and capers. for anyone looking for a boursin type feel add some garlic.

the feta simply takes the base for the ricotta, omitting the lemon juice and adds agar agar powder. mix the agar agar with your mix, probably about 1 tsp per 300g of mix, and heat in a microwave (stirring regularly) or in a pan. once the agar has been activated (you'll know when it has because the outside wil look as if it's already setting) then you can add lemon juice to taste. if you add the lemon juice first it affects the setting property of the agar agar.
place in a box or on a tray and let it set. once it has set make up a brine of salt and water and cut the feta into cubes. let it sit for a week or so then store in oil with herbs and garlic and chillis and anything else you want. great in sandwiches.

cheers

wayne