Lately I’ve been all about creating effortless appetizers! While it’s easy just to pick something ready made up from the store after a long day, I love homemade! Just like everything else, it taste better when homemade!
Back in my early cooking days cashews were making a comeback and you would see endless cheesecakes and cheese recipes flooding Pinterest. I explored the cheesecake concept and tried a few cheese recipes, but all in all I wasn’t greatly impressed. Nothing compared to the gourmet vegan cheeses you would come across.
That being said, I wanted to revisit vegan cheese to create the most stress free recipe that didn’t require using cheese clothes or fancy tools, but just a simple food processor, and the vegan Herb Cashew Cheese was born! What I love about this recipe is all of the above, plus it packs dry and fresh herbs, tons of flavor, you could even throw in spinach to not only garner more nutrients, but create a gorgeous hue, it’s packed with protein, filling, the texture is perfect, you could enjoy it by itself or throw in a pasta dish.
Now lets talk about these pickled blueberries! Since social distancing and experiencing a lack of food options, I’ve been trying pickling recipes. It’s a great way to salvage food on the way out and they can enhance countless dishes. While I love pickled veggies, I had yet to explore pickled fruit. Although this cashew cheese could hold up on its own, I knew it would be a win win when combined with these pickled blueberries! What’s great about these blueberries, is honestly, everything! The flavor is much more impactful. They have a hint of sweet and spice and will leave you just thinking, wow. If you feel lost with what to do with pickled blueberries, you can really put them on anything as they are just that good!
What’s great about these two recipes is that they pair seamlessly together, are both quick easy, affordable, can easily be made in bulk, are perfect for any season, perfect for entertaining, and make for the perfect bite with a glass of wine!
If you’re all about cashew cheese or all things pickled, you have to try this new recipe for vegan Herb Cashew Cheese with pickled blueberries!
Herb Cashews Cheese: Soak cashews overnight or in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain, and place in a food processor with the remaining ingredients. Blend until smooth.
Pickled blueberries: Place the cinnamon sticks, cloves, along with the vinegar in a medium sized pan.
Bring to a simmer over medium heat; cook for 5 minutes. Stir blueberries into the vinegar; cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. As the blueberries heat, gently shake the pot. Do not stir to avoid breaking the berries. Remove from heat, allow to cool in the pan. Remove the cinnamon stick and cloves. Now drain the liquid with and place it back into the pan. If you’d like an easier removal you can use a cheese cloth to hold the cinnamon/cloves and then remove at the end.
Set on med/high heat. Stir in the white sugars; bring to a boil. Boil until thickened, about 4 minutes.
Now pour the thickened sauce in the jar with the berries. To make this appetizer, toast sliced French Bread in the oven with a lil olive oil, spread on the Herb Cheese and top with the pickled blueberries. Garnish with sliced basil.
That was a typo. Please omit lemon juice in the pickled blueberries unless desired. I tried it with the addition of lemon juice and it was really good, but I removed it in the final recipe to keep it more simple.
What’s the amount of lemon juice pickles with the blueberries? You mention it above as part of cheese, but not below.
That was a typo. Please omit lemon juice in the pickled blueberries unless desired. I tried it with the addition of lemon juice and it was really good, but I removed it in the final recipe to keep it more simple.