Every so often I get together with a friend and cook up a storm, by a storm I mean generally one dish. Normally we chat and chat and chat and look through several cookbooks for new recipes to try before we finally decide on one , we then go get the ingredients and then have dinner at some crazy hour like 10pm. It lots of fun and certainly beats cooking by yourself! This was the probably the first time we had already chosen a recipe and had the food ready to go. She had recently got the revised version of the The Ultimate Uncheese cookbook and had her eye on the french onion soup with vegan gruyere cheese. I know it's summer at the moment but it wasn't particularly hot that day and she had lots of onions. The soup itself was great and was better than a french onion recipe that Mr T once made that took 2 hours.
The spoonfuls of the 'cheese' were lovely inside the soup, I think this soup would be great in winter time but I probably wouldn't make the soup often though since it's not super nutritious. I also loved that she had a side note on the recipe that you can put the 'cheese' on bread and put into under the grill so we tried it:
The ''cheese" on toast was yummy although I'm sure it wouldn't convince a cheese eater especially by itself but it was great for me who can't really remember what cheese tastes like anymore. I think it looks pretty convincing too. It was especially good when you dipped it in the soup.
We also made instant cheez it, a powder that you can just add water to and cook for instant 'cheese', I will let you know what it is like when I try it. Anyone made it? What did you add to it? I'm thinking pasta and vegetables.
I like the layout of the book and if she lets me I would love to borrow it once she has finished trying recipes from it, is that a big enough hint?
5 comments:
when i've made instant chreeze i've put it on top of steamed veggies (broccoli and cauliflower usually). i think we had it once on the "chicken" schnitzel sanitariam makes. i keep meaning to try it to make a macaroni and cheeze thing but i haven't yet....
Andy has made that instant cheez for us, and used it on top of pasta bakes and mexican bakes. I haven't tried the soup, but it sounds good... I like french onion soup every now and then. I think you've hit the nail on the head, though, the uncheeses are not authentic, but are good for us vegans!
The best part of that book, in my opinion, is the pie crusts. Granola nut crust is so good I could eat it with no filling.
Hi,
I laughed at the "uncheese cookbook" and will definitely have to try and find it. My wife and I have been vegan since July, and we're still missing cheese. How long til that goes away I wonder. The vegan options we've tried so far haven't really compared to real cheese. Although we have enjoyed the vegan grilled "cheese" sandwich with tomato soup on occasion.
We do make a vegan parmesan cheese using nutritional yeast that's passable.
-- Lane of VeganBits.com
Thanks for your ideas Shawna and Theresa.Shawna, I've heard that the Mac and cheese from the book is good.
Theresa, I'll check out the crusts, it sounds great!
Lane, it does get easier! When I first went vegan there wasn't any vegan cheeses available in Australia and so I focused on trying different foods. It was difficult at first as I used to eat cheese 2-3 times a day in my pre-vegan days. But I started to discover all these flavours that were previously masked by cheese. And then after a while you kind of forget what it tastes like.
I love this cookbook. It's a pity it isn't translated in french, as we lack cheese alternatives in France.
Post a Comment