Tuesday, Mar 8, 2011 1:30 AM UTC

Cashew roasted garlic spread

"Vegan nut cheese" are hardly the most appetizing words, but the technique of softening sweet nuts is brilliant

By Cathy Elton

more
- All Share Services

Topics: Kitchen Challenge, Food, Life News

Being an almost-vegan, the idea of vegan cheese should appeal to me, but to be honest, I think it’s silly. I’ve had nut cheeses made from cashews, and they tend to be bland and tasteless. The main flavor tends to come from the nutritional yeast often used in the process. Sorry, but if I want cheese, I’ll break my cardiologist-ordered diet and eat a bite or two of English farmhouse cheddar.

Having said that, I took one cue from the vegan cheeseheads in developing my rich and creamy Italian cashew spread: I soaked the cashews overnight to make them soft. But rather than going for a thick, cheeselike texture, I created a spread that’s more reminiscent of a white bean dip. The hefty dose of roasted garlic, along with lemon and olive oil, put it in a whole different league than faux cheese.

This would be good served on homemade crostini, or even cucumber slices. If you have it on crackers, be sure they don’t have a strong flavor or the crackers will overwhelm the lovely roasted garlic taste.

See more of my heart-healthy recipes on my blog What Would Cathy Eat?

Cashew Roasted Garlic Spread

Ingredients

2 cups raw cashews, soaked overnight in water, then drained
1 whole head garlic
1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons water
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Peel off the outer papery skin of the garlic head. Slice along the top of the bulb (not the root end) to reveal a bit of the cloves.
Place in a baking pan, drizzle with a teaspoon of olive oil. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes.
Place the drained cashews in a food processor. Add the roasted garlic, squeezing out the contents of each clove. Add the remaining ingredients and process until very smooth.
Serve on whole grain bread or crostini. If serving on crackers, make sure they don’t have a lot of salt or seasoning; you want the focus to be on the spread.

More Cathy Elton.

more
- All Share Services

The week in 10 pics

close X

Lisa Montgomery embraces her nephew Thursday after a tornado tore apart her home in Cleburne, Texas. The twister killed six people and destroyed entire swaths of the North Texas town.
Credit: AP/LM Otero
Jack McMahon, the defense attorney for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, speaks outside the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia Tuesday. His client was convicted of killing three babies in his clinic, and will serve multiple life sentences.
Credit: AP/Matt Rourke
A photo taken Monday captures Vice President Joe Biden's response to a Milwaukee second-grader's innovative proposal to end America's epidemic of gun violence. This guy!
Credit: AP/Jenny Aicher
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., flanked by a grouper-eyed Michele Bachmann, addresses the IRS' admission that it targeted Tea Party groups in advance of the 2012 election. In an op-ed for CNN Thursday, the Kentucky senator slammed the president for his faux outrage.
Credit: AP/Molly Riley
Ousted IRS chief Steven Miller is sworn in on Capitol Hill Friday. Miller testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on the extra scrutiny the agency gave conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.
Credit: AP/J. Scott Applewhite
Attorney General Eric Holder pauses as he testifies on Capitol Hill before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday. Holder is under fire, among other things, for the Justice Department's gathering of phone records at the Associated Press.
Credit: AP/Carolyn Kaster
O.J. Simpson sits during an evidentiary hearing at Clark County District Court in Las Vegas, Nev., Thursday. Simpson, who is currently serving a nine-to-33-year sentence in state prison for armed robbery and kidnapping, is using a writ of habeas corpus to seek a new trial.
Credit: AP/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Jeff Scheid
Major Tom to ground control: On Sunday astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded the first music video from space, a cover of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
Credit: AP/NASA/Chris Hadfield
When it rains it pours. President Barack Obama speaks during a news conference Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, inexplicably inspiring an #umbrellagate Twitter meme.
Credit: AP/Jacquelyn Martin
A smoke plume rises high above a road block at the intersection of County A and Ross Road east of Solon Springs, Wis., Tuesday. No injuries were reported, but the the wildfire caused evacuations across northwestern Wisconsin.
Credit: AP/The Duluth News-Tribune/Clint Austin
Recent Slide Shows

1 Comments

RSS Feeds

Get Email Updates

SALON

Cashew roasted garlic spread

"Vegan nut cheese" are hardly the most appetizing words, but the technique of softening sweet nuts is brilliant