Baked “Vegan Feta”

If you follow me you know that I am mostly vegan but do enjoy the occasional really good dairy product. I guess I was raised in a dairy culture country, and it was already hard to fight meat and be a vegetarian ! but cheese and yogurts have been all around my entire life. And I did enjoy them for a long time of my life. Especially cheese….Being more educated on their nutritional value, + and – health benefits, I have become quite savvy about when and how to eat those. And I also rely a lot on what’s my gut feeling ! If you can digest dairy and eat in moderation some organic, real yogurt or cheese, I believe you can actually benefit from their nutrients (calcium, protein) But this is so personal, right ? And having said that I know that I ‘ll always feel better when I skip those for sometime in my diet. So finding something that can replace the texture and flavor cheese bring to dishes is really important for me. On the other hand I don’t want to claim my “vegan feta” is anything to compare with traditional feta. I have said it before, but it scares me that some people eat now lots of processed vegan food and truly believe it is healthy ! We should not try to eat the same, but learn how to make new ingredients combinations that bring us the same level of yum 🙂 and are at the same time good for our health. Anyway, that’s my personal view on the current vegan trend, and even if you disagree with me, you can still give a try to recipe below. It’s sour, tangy, crumbly, and can definitely play a similar part in the flavors building of a salad / soup/ … as feta would do. Give it a go and let me know.

Ingredients

• 135 g blanched almonds
• 4,5 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 3,5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 fat crushed garlic cloves (don’t omit)
• 115 ml d’eau
• 1,5 tbsp of fresh shredded thyme, oregano or rosemary (my favorite is rosemary)
• 1,5 tsp sea salt (adjust to taste)

Directions

• Soak your almonds in 500 ml of water the night before
• In the morning, drain them and rinse them well
• Transfer them to your high speed blender, adding all the other ingredients and blend until you get a creamy texture.
• Transfer your batter in your milk bag and make a tight knot to get a ball you’ll strain for min 8 hours in your fridge
• Once it has strained, transfer your batter in your greased mold (I use olive oil, or baking paper if you don’t want to add any oil).
• Put in your preheated oven at 175°C fan forced for 35/40 min (check, it should have get some golden color on the top and have some cracks, but should still be soft under the firm top)
• Leave it to cool down in your mold and once cool, transfer in a container in your fridge
• When ready to eat, add a drizzle of olive oil, some cracked pepper and fresh herbs, even honey if you’d like (but not vegan). Can keep for up to 5 days in your fridge.
• Enjoy on sourdough toasts, crumbled in salads or to top soups, in wraps, or on pizzas.