Kelly’s Italian Sun Dried Tomato Cheese

Cheese Ingredients:

1 cup cashews
½ cup filtered water
1/8 tsp. Himalayan sea salt
1 tbsp. basil powder
½ tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
¼ cup nutritional yeast
½ cup Kelly’s sun dried tomatoes

Directions:
Soak the cashews in filtered water for 2 to 4 hours prior to making this recipe. Drain the cashews. Place cashews, water, salt, basil, onion powder, garlic powder, and nutritional yeast in a high speed blender and blend until creamy smooth. Chop ½ cup of Kelly’s sun dried tomatoes and chop into small pieces. Now place 2 ring molds (2.75” diameter) on a plate. Take a small handful of the sun dried tomato pieces and place them in the bottom of the mold. Repeat the process for the other mold. Take the remaining tomatoes and place into the high speed blender with the cheese and hand mix them in with a spatula. Be careful not to get the spatula stuck on the blades at the bottom of the blender. Set aside for now.

Agar:
Note: Agar powder is a vegetarian substitute for gelatin. It is a vegan, gluten free food and is used in this recipe to mold the cheese and hold the shape.

Directions:
Place 1 cup filtered water and 1 ½ tsp. agar powder into a pan. Turn on the heat to high and whisk constantly while heating. Once the water boils, reduce the heat to low and simmer for 5 minutes continue whisking during this procedure. It is done when it resembles heavy thick glue.

Note: Moving quickly is imperative at this point in the recipe because the agar sets up rapidly once it begins to cool down. Also note that when it is time to add the agar to the cheese, turn the blender on the lowest speed possible to avoid blending Kelly’s sun dried tomatoes too much and losing the small pieces.

Now, turn the blender on low and pour in the agar while scraping the sides down. Incorporate evenly and turn off rapidly. Remove from the blender as soon as possible and pour into the molds. Smooth the tops of the cheese with a knife or a press until the top is nice and flat. Cover the molds on the plate with saran wrap and place in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 hours. Remove the molds from the plate, flip them over and push the cheese out of the mold onto the plate with the tomatoes facing up to form the topping. If you need more topping that is not stuck into the cheese, chop up a few more of Kelly’s sun dried tomatoes and sprinkle over the top. Garnish with some parsley and serve.

This cheese has a shelf life of 4 to 6 days in the refrigerator.