Pesto, Cherry Tomato and Raw Cashew Cheese Pizza
I was never a fan of “real” pizza aka tomato and cheese. The cheese was always so gross and stringy. Even with the advances in vegan cheeses like Daiya and the new and improved Teese I’m still not much of a fan. I like those brands of vegan cheese but not on my pizza! My favorite all time pizza is a new one for me. It consists of homemade Basil-Miso-Walnut Pesto, some homegrown still warm from the sun cherry tomatoes and a raw cashew cheese.
The process is very simple:
Roll out dough (I like the whole grain one from Whole Foods)
Spread pesto over pizza
Thrown on some halved cherry tomatoes
Pop into the oven…400 450 degrees…whatever you fancy.
When the crust is nice and brown and the tomatoes are nice and bubbly take the pizza out and drop on the raw cashew cheese in random places.
Cut.
Serve!
Its basically the best pizza ever. Peter and my Maa are hooked. Reno will just eat pieces with the tomatoes and cashew cheese taken off…she’s only 3 so what does she know..right? I insist that you all make this pizza. Your taste buds will thank you.
p.s. the cashew cheese is from Ani Phyo’s new book: Raw Food Essentials. I’ll be posting a full review of her new book in a few days!
August 30th, 2010
Summer Rolls
Some people call them Spring Rolls and some call them Summer Rolls (some people even call them Autumn Rolls depending on the season and what ingredients are used inside). To me they are Summer rolls always and forever. Anyway..Summer Rolls! I haven’t had these in ages! Its probably because at one restaurant job of mine I would have to make a ton of these every morning for lunch and dinner service and sometimes I’d have to make even a ton more for a catering job or two or three. That’s a lot of summer roll making and it can get old really fast. So when I went to my friend Jen’s house the other week for a little get together my other friend Jen brought along some rice paper sheets and all the fixings to make our own summer rolls and good lord they were delicious! We (the 3 of us Jennifer’s and 1 Rachel) were devouring them and I knew that I would be making the same summer roll set up for my family really soon.
Fixings
A week later I had my parents and sister up for dinner. One part of that dinner was make your own summer rolls. It went over really well and I think it’s fun to have people interact with food at the dinner table sometimes. For the filling I finely shredded some carrots, zucchini and thinly sliced some swiss chard leaves then placed them all in one bowl to make it easier for everyone to grab what they wanted for their own personal summer rolls.
In separate bowl I served precooked and cold rice noodles and a ginger almond pate. For the pate I used the same recipe that my friend Jen used. Its a Ani Phyo recipe that she saw on one of Ani’s YouTube videos. It is easy to make and it’s delicious. The only thing not shown in any of the photos is the fresh mint that we sprinkled onto the fillings before wrapping them up. I also would serve fresh cilantro leaves as well but unfortunately cilantro didn’t feel like growing in my garden this year so we had to do without.
Fixing’s all piled up just before rolling
I demonstrated to everyone at the dinner table how to make their own summer rolls by soaking a rice paper roll in warm water until just soft, laying it out on a plate and layering a little bit of each ingredient in the center of the wrapper before rolling it up. Once everyone knew what they were doing we all got to it making them ourselves and eating them up! It was so delicious and so much fun that Peter and I had them for lunch again the next day.
These summer rolls would be perfect to bring to a potluck or serve as an appetizer at a party, already filled and rolled, served with a peanut dipping sauce.
August 2nd, 2010