There's no room for bland toast on the hot for food blog! There is, however, room for this amazing smoked cashew cheese toast.
You know me, and although I love easy recipes, I also like exciting flavors and food you can feed your face with. This recipe for making your own spreadable cashew cheese might look ambitious, but after one bite you'll realize it was all worth it! Plus fancy toasts are so trendy.
Try serving it at your next dinner party as part of an array of appies or make it part of your own indulgent weekend brunch spread!
Everyone will be impressed with this dish, especially the fact that you made that smoked cashew cheese from SCRATCH, baby!
smoked cashew cheese toast with poached pear & fried thyme
Get fancy with this delightful appie or brunch dish. Who can say no to savory smoked cashew cheese on freshly toasted bread?
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Servings: small toasts
Ingredients
smoked cashew cheese
- 1 C raw whole cashews, soaked and refrigerated in water for 3 hours
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
- ½ teaspoon miso paste
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon smoked paprika
- ⅛ teaspoon white pepper
- Powder from 1 vegan source probiotic capsule (10 billion CFU)
poached pears
- 3 bosc pears
- 3 C water
- ⅔ C raw sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 2-3 thick slices of peeled ginger
fried thyme
- 30 sprigs of thyme
- 1 teaspoon olive oil, for frying
extras
- loaf of sourdough bread, thinly sliced (or your preference)
Instructions
- Drain the soaking water from the cashews. Rinse and drain them in fresh water.
- In a high-powered blender, combine cashews, lemon juice, nutritional yeast, miso paste, sea salt, smoked paprika, white pepper, and probiotic powder. You’ll need to stop the blender frequently to move the mixture around with a spoon or spatula and scrape it off the sides to get it smooth.
- The cashew cheese mixture can be wrapped in a double layer of cheesecloth and placed in sealed container to achieve a round shape. Alternatively, scoop the mixture into a jar with a lid and let it set in the fridge for at least 24 hours (up to 36 hours for a stronger flavor).
- For the poached pears, bring water, lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon, and peeled ginger to a boil in a pot.
- Meanwhile, peel the pears, cut them in halves, and remove the core and seeds.
- Once the poaching liquid is boiling, place pears in the pot and let them simmer at a low boil for 20 minutes. To prevent pears from poking out of the liquid you can cut a circle of parchment paper the circumference of your pot, cut a small hole in the centre, and place it on top of the liquid in the pot.
- The pears are done when you can easily poke a fork in them and the pear halves slide off. Remove them from the liquid and allow to cool.
- Just before serving the toasts, heat a pan over medium heat with oil and thyme sprigs. Fry for 1 to 2 minutes until crispy, but still contain some color.
- Prepare your toast to your liking in the oven or toaster.
- Thinly slice the cooled poached pears.
- Spread smoked cashew cheese on pieces of toast, place 3 thin slices of pear on top, and garnish with fried thyme. Serve immediately.
Genoveve
I just discovered you! and am so excited to try out many of your recipes. I love your blog - not saturated with a bazillion pictures that I have to scroll before getting to the recipe ... AND you include video tutorials (perfect for scaredy cats in the kitchen like me). I only hopped onto my laptop for one quick thing and an hour later I'm still binging on your blog. Yay (but not for my time ;-))
Paisley Lukenbill
Hey Lauren/John, what is the point of the probiotic capsule in the cheese spread? Is it a necessary ingredient?
Lauren Toyota
some people have commented that they left it out and it still tastes great. It's simply one method of getting a "fermented" aged quality in a short amount of time.