Baked "Feta" Cheese
And yes it's vegan.
Vegan cheese can be decent, edible, and absolutely gross. I've tried many brands over the years and only a few are worth recommending. I attempted a mac 'n cashew-cheese once, but it was a pain to find nutritional yeast [plus expensive] and I was too impatient to soak the nuts long enough. But behold, the incredible maple spice vegan blogger has shared her easy and cheap way to make cheese that will change your [vegan] life. Thanks to her every dish I make is about to get a whole lot cheesier.
What you need:
- 145g[1 1/2 cups] ground almonds [we were lucky to find pre-grounded almonds in our local supermarket]
- 60ml lemon juice [1/4 cup]
- 1/2 cup of water
- 3 Tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic [minced]
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
Chuck it all in a blender and blitz it until it's creamy and smooth [takes just a few minutes]. Then line a small bowl with 3 layers of cheesecloth [we used an old, clean white tshirt] and spoon the mix into the cheesecloth. Bring the sides together and tie it up at the top with a rubberband or hair-tye. Then put it in a strainer on top of the bowl. Place it in the fridge for 12hours.
Remove from bowl and wash out the liquid that was drained. Use the same bowl if it's oven safe, but first give it a spray with cooking oil then remove the cheesecloth and place "feta" in the bowl. Preheat the oven to 180C/356F and place in the oven for 40mins or until it's golden on top and starts to crack [only needed 30mins in our crappy oven]. See below for our golden goodness.
Then let your "feta" cheese block cool down and toast some bread to enjoy with it. We also infused extra virgin olive oil with rosemary and chili flakes to drizzle over the cheese and bread.
And happy snacking to you! Your tastebuds will thank you. Plus use it for sandwiches, on pizzas, and more. We made a delicious, pasta bake with the almond cheese left over [see below] and plan to make this recipe weekly in our little vegan kitchen :)
Head to maple spice to find more awesome vegan recipes to try, Bon Apetite!Viktoria