Here is an elegant appetizer with a beautiful and intriguing presentation. Stilton is a very artisanal looking cheese and it’s a famous English cow’s milk cheese with lots of blue “veins” in it. I wanted to recreate the look of it to some degree, without using any hard to find or unusual ingredients. Oh, and don’t worry if you don’t like the taste of blue cheese. This doesn’t taste anything like blue cheese. So, why would I go to the trouble of creating something like this? Well, first of all, I enjoy elegant, delicious food. Secondly, many store bought plant based cheeses (and of course traditional dairy cheeses) are very high in saturated fat. And though that is fine once in a while, it’s nice to just be able to make something beautiful at home, and serve something special to your guests.
What I can say about this cheese is that it is creamy, tangy, has a mild cheese-like flavor. You can cut it, spread it, crumble it and enjoy with fruit, crackers, bread, wine, salad greens. You name it! I even used it to make a gratin that was absolutely delicious. The main ingredient is cashews, and you’ll need raw, unsalted cashews for this recipe. The white miso paste is a versatile product that you can use to make a nice broth and has many other uses to nicely flavor dishes. Blue spirulina powder is a superfood and make sure you don’t get one that has any taste to it. We use it in our smoothies and it has a naturally vibrant bright blue color. It’s pricey but a little goes a long way. I like these two brands of spirulina from Wilderness Poets and from Amazon. What’s also great about this recipe is that you can bake it. No special dehydrator needed. And you can freeze it for up to a couple months.
Directions
Preheat oven to 325F. Drain the cashews and add them to a food processor. Then add the lemon juice, vinegar, water, garlic, miso and Dijon mustard to the food processor. Process until super creamy smooth. You’ll have to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl several times to make sure everything is incorporated. Process for about five minutes or so until very smooth. Carefully remove the blade. Take two small pieces of parchment paper and line two 4 oz. ramekins with the parchment to cover all sides. Add the mixture one third of the way into each of the two parchment lined ramekins. In a very small bowl, add the spirulina and powdered greens. Mix it dry with a teaspoon. Then add the olive oil to the bowl and mix together. This will become a deep blue green color. With a skewer or toothpick, scratch some lines into the mixture in somewhat of a cross hatch pattern and then randomly poke some holes into the mixture. With a teaspoon, drop a little of the spirulina mixture into the lines. This will give the look of the veins in the cheese. Repeat this with another layer of the cheese mixture for each ramekin, using up the spirulina mixture. You can do 3 to 4 layers. Then smooth the tops with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes. Allow these to cool on a hot plate on the countertop. Then place in the refrigerator for a few hours before cutting and serving. It will cut very nicely and can stay in the fridge for up to a few days or wrapped in the freezer for up to 2 months. Enjoy this touch of elegance at your table!
