Vegan Almond Feta

Ah, but for valiant efforts! Alicia at Vegan Epicurean has raved about this vegan cheese forever. We have very little (very expensive) feta, so I was eager to find a replacement. Unfortunately, I also lack a blender and reliable oven in Argentina.

Ingredients:
1 cup of blanched almonds
Juice and zest of one lemon (approximately ¼ cup of juice)
3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1/2 clove of raw garlic (if small clove use it all)
1 ¼ - 1 ½ teaspoons salt
¼ cup water, or more if necessary

Directions:
In a jar with a lid, cover the blanched almonds with water and refrigerate 24 to 48 hours hours. Then drain the nuts rinse them thoroughly and drain again. The longer soak seems to make the nuts process more completely.
Move the drained nuts and the remaining ingredients to a food processor and puree until the mixture is very smooth but has a very slightly crumbly texture. This took 8 minutes during which time I periodically stopped the processor and scraped the side of the container and restarted the machine. If after 10 minutes the consistency is not smooth you can add up to another ¼ cup of water to help the mixture to process.
If you used the extra water to process the nuts, then take the nut mixture and move it to a strainer lined with three layers of cheesecloth.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees when you are ready to proceed.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put the cheese onto the baking sheet and form it into a flat disk that is about ¾ of an inch thick. Bake the cheese until it begins to become slightly firm on the top. (About an hour)

Remove the cheese from the oven and allow it to cool to about room temperature before you move it to a serving platter. If you have a wide spatula and have cooked it long enough it will move in one piece. Be careful it is delicate.
To serve: Drizzle the nut cheese with the extra virgin olive oil and salt, freshly cracked pepper and thyme leaves.

Comments: While the recipe wasn't so terrible I had to toss it, from the perspective of cheese, it was a definite FAIL. I found it very lemony—not in a bad way, but too strong to resemble the acid of feta. And of course, my texture was WAY off (I may attempt it again, and steal my roommate's blender for the project)...and it was clearly cooked. Browned on the bottom. I ended up tossing it in various dishes throughout the weak, giving them a lemony, savory twist.

Walnut Cheeze Spread

I’ve been attempting to eat more vegan, and intrigued by vegan cheezes for a while. I have no idea where to begin to look here in Argentina, but Alicia at Vegan Epicurean has also been talking about them. I finally bought some walnuts to make the cheeze, went back to her site, and…nothing?

So, I emailed her, and apparently walnuts are the one nut she hadn’t used to make cheeze! But she promised to try it out right away, and sure enough, within a few days, a very simple recipe was posted on her site, and I set to work, soaking my almonds.

All went according to plan, until I started the food processor. She warned you may have to scrape it down once or twice to get a smooth consistency. My mini-processor lasted about 10-seconds before needing a scrape down…and 10 more…and 10 more…and…well, finally I gave up, and decided it’d be tasyt or not, but it would never be creamy in my machine.

I stuck the mixture (smelling cheezey due to the nooch) in the fridge overnight, and checked it out the next day.

I can’t comment on cheesieness, as I have very little vegan cheeze experience, and the texture was WAY off for real cheese, but it definitely made a yummy spread, and I can see making it a PB substitute (since there’s no other nut butters sold here)… and maybe even a cheese sub, under the right circumstances?