Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Cashew Alfredo

Over the past few weeks, I've been trying a few new dishes using some organic, natural food samples from Sunfood. They sent me a generous package of goji berries, raw olives, coconut sugar, and organic whole cashews.

I knew exactly what to do with the cashews — cheese!! Raw cashew cheese sauces are among my favorite raw food dishes, but I so rarely make them since bulk cashews are kinda spendy. There were about two cups of whole, raw, hand-cracked, sustainably harvested cashews in this 8-ounce bag, which happened to be exactly how much I needed to make the Cashew Alfredo Sauce from Eat Raw, Eat Well:


I served my creamy cashew alfredo atop raw zucchini and sweet potato noodles made with my new spiralizer! I've only used it once before, and let me tell you, it makes all the difference in the world for raw pasta. Before, I would use a veggie peeler or simply julienne my veggies for raw noodles, but raw pasta is so much more fun to eat when it's spiralized!

Anyway, back to the cashews. When I make cashew cheeses, I always buy the bulk cashew pieces in the Whole Foods bulk bin. And that's fine for blending into sauces and dressings, but I don't believe I've ever really tried a whole, raw cashew. These nuts were the cleanest, freshest tasting cashews I've ever tried. Each one was fully intact. Not a broken nut in the whole bag. It seemed a shame to blend them into a sauce. But nevertheless, the sauce (made with cashews, nutritional yeast, miso, lemon juice, and garlic) was delicious, and after one bite, I had no regrets.

What are your favorite ways to use raw cashews?

9 comments:

East Village Vegan said...

Yum. Looks great. Here are two ways to use raw cashews. 1. in a smoothie and 2. in a pasta sauce

See posts here:

http://eastvillagevegan.blogspot.com/2010/04/raw-food-monday.html

http://eastvillagevegan.blogspot.com/2010/03/todays-lunch.html

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Barb@ThatWasVegan said...

YUM! I make a mean chipotle sauce with my cashews :)

Anonymous said...

oh my gosh that looks so amazing!

Des said...

Whoa! This has to be awesome! Yumm! :)

Allysia said...

Ahh yes, the priciness of nuts. Sometimes I cheap out and use sunflower seeds for a lot of the same purposes as cashews...they just aren't nearly as luxurious. And spiralizers are awesome, and they definitely make raw "noodles" more fun to eat even by visuals alone.

And to answer your question, I tend to use cashews to make cream, both for baking and especially for sauces. Holy yum.

sarah@thesweetlife said...

I LOVE cashews in dessert. I made a chocolate hazelnut "cheesecake" with cashews awhile back.
http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2012/05/06/raw-chocolate-hazelnut-cheesecake/

I also like to make custards, pastry cream, and mousses with cashews. If only they weren't so expensive!

Rachel from The Vegan Mishmash said...

Cashews make the most heavenly cheese sauces: alfredo, mac'n'cheese, lasagna! And now, after seeing those noodles, I want a spiralizer!

Dana said...

This is my favorite raw alfredo sauce: http://www.therawtarian.com/raw-alfredo-sauce-recipe/