Plant based nut yogurt

A plant based yogurt alternative, made with cashews and almonds, with optional flavourings like lemon juice, vanilla or lemon zest. Soaking required.

Yup, I really did say that: a plant based “yogurt” made from nuts. This isn’t a fermented product, just something you can easily make at home with two ingredients, in case you are cutting back on dairy, and/or looking to try some alternatives.

You could try a yogurt from the store, it’s true. I like this one, a thick and delicious fermented coconut yogurt, and one of the few without any funky ingredients or gums. But if you are a consummate DIY-er, or you enjoy making your basics from scratch (or you just do not love the flavour of coconut), then this recipe is for you.

Kitchen notes

I’ll start with the obvious: this won’t taste like dairy yogurt. It can’t, because: 

• it is made of nuts, and that is what it will taste like

• it’s not fermented

However, it has the same function: a creamy food to eat as a breakfast or snack, with some interesting toppings if your choice. I offered some suggestions below as well.

Almonds and cashews are fairly mild-tasting nuts, so there is the possibility of playing with flavour. I add citrus zest, vanilla, honey, or maple to mine. Lemon zest is perfect if you serve this plant based nut yogurt with honeyed berries. Lime zest works with papaya chunks (SO GOOD), vanilla with a pear compote and so on. 

You will need a high powered blender for this job. I have used the same blender for 12 years, it’s from this brand - an absolute workhorse in my kitchen. A regular blender has no hope of smashing through the nuts, even if they are soaked. You can use all cashews, in which case the yogurt will be perfectly silky, a joy to eat. I like to use half almonds and half cashews, which is less smooth, but it has a more nutty essence, which I personally love.

The recipe rundown: you soak the nuts the night before, or about 4-6 hours before, if using only cashews. You drain, rinse, then blend the nuts with some water. Season to your liking then store the plant based nut yogurt in the fridge for up to 3 days for enjoying with fruit and/or granola, as a snack or breakfast. It could not be simpler.

Plant based nut yogurt

Yields: 2-4 servings

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (75 g) cashews (the unsalted, unroasted kind)

• ½ cup (80 g) natural, raw almonds (or sub with equal quantity cashews, if preferred)

• ½ cup (125 ml) filtered water for blending

• 1 tsp (5 ml) lemon juice freshly squeezed (optional)

• ¼ tsp vanilla paste or vanilla essence (optional)

• ½ tsp lemon zest zested with a microplane (optional, add to nuts and water before blending if a smooth consistency is desired)

Equipment:

• high powered blender

Method:

• If using all cashews, place the cashews in a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave them at room temperature for 4-6 hours, or up to overnight. If using both cashews and almonds, soak the nuts separately, leaving the water-covered almonds on the counter for at least 8 hours, or overnight, as almonds need a longer soaking time.

• Drain the nuts and rinse under cold water. Slip the skins off of the almonds. Place both nuts in a small blender jar (I use the Twister jar from Blendtec, which has a 16 fl oz. (2 cups, 500 ml) capacity. Add the ½ cup (125 ml) water and blend. Add any optional flavourings (lemon juice for tang, vanilla or citrus zest) and blend again until smooth and perfectly creamy.

• Remove from the blender to a jar and store in the fridge until ready to enjoy.

Notes

This yogurt is great with fruit puree (mango with passion fruit is fantastic) or berry chia jam, fresh fruit (I like to macerate about 1 cup strawberries or blackberries with 1 tsp honey, then let rest for 20 min and serve with this yogurt), or a fruit compote, and if you desire some crunch, then granola or even some chocolate chips are a great option.

I don’t recommend freezing this nut yogurt. It can, however, be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Vegan chocolate truffles

In this post, learn how to make vegan chocolate ganache, flavoured with orange peel, then use it to make moorish vegan truffles.

Christmas and Valentine’s day are two holidays when, more than any other time, chocolate takes centre stage in the celebration. I worked as a chocolatier for a while (a story for another time, perhaps); I made hundreds of chocolate truffles, most often flavoured seasonally: with raspberry puree in the summer, orange in winter, and, well, cream whiskey all year round because it is always in season.

Kitchen science and troubleshooting

I hope I didn’t lose you at the word “science” but in this case, knowing the science gives you a better chance at success.

The backbone of a chocolate truffle recipe is two ingredients: chocolate, and a liquid, most often heavy cream but here, full-fat canned coconut milk to make it vegan. The liquid is heated to near-boiling point, then poured onto the chocolate to melt it down. The two are stirred to create an emulsion.

While, normally, fat-based ingredients and water-based ingredients separate (like in a vinaigrette), in an emulsion the two are in perfect balance and you get things like mayonnaise or ganache: creamy, and silky-smooth, or in nerd-speech, optimally dispersed. Oh science, how I love thee.

The same way as mayo can break, your chocolate ganache can too. Here are some troubleshooting tips: 

• make sure your liquid is very hot (but not boiling) before pouring it on your chocolate

• ganache is sensitive in the lukewarm temperature range; you can stir it when warm, or mold it when cold, but if you stir when it’s lukewarm, it’ll split (a.k.a. separate)

• to fix a separated ganache: place it in a bowl on top of a double boiler and slowly melt it back down (if cool), adding a tablespoon of plant milk and stirring until fully incorporated. If still separated, add another tablespoon of milk and stir again. Heat only until melted

• if you cannot re-emulsify your ganache, you can always add more hot (plant) milk on top and make hot chocolate instead.

For a very thorough article on ganache from Fine Cooking, please see this article.

Styling notes

The rolled-out truffles can be either simply rolled in, or dusted with cocoa powder, but don’t be too heavy-handed, or they’ll feel bitter and dry when bitten into.

Alternatively, they can be dipped in chocolate and then rolled in cocoa. This second option is admittedly more finicky, but it creates an appealing, rustic appearance, as well as a slight resistance when the truffle is bitten. Texturally, the contrast is lovely: powdery cocoa, then a slight crunch and bite from the chocolate shell, then the creamy ganache.

I serve these chocolate truffles out of small plates or bowls, or for gifting, I recommend a high end truffle box made from hard cardboard that won’t give to pressure. These types of boxes travel best and your hand made truffles arrive to their recipient still intact. To have with them, a glass of almond milk is my favourite choice, but the cream whiskey I mentioned in the first paragraph or a good Port can work just as well.

Vegan chocolate orange truffles

Yields: 22-24 truffles

Ingredients:

• 225 g chocolate with 70% cocoa solids, preferably organic, such as Green & Black’s, or Cacao Barry Organic 71% Chocolate Couverture

• 160 g full fat coconut milk from a can, Native Forest brand (organic) or Aroy-D

• 1 tbsp brown rice syrup or maple syrup

• 5-7 strips of orange peel, removed from an orange with a vegetable Y-peeler

• 50 g cocoa powder, for rolling the truffles

Method:

1. If you are using bars, chop the chocolate into pieces no larger than a pea, and place in a heat-safe medium bowl. 

2. Heat the coconut milk, brown rice or maple syrup, and orange peel in a small pot just to boiling point. It should steam slightly around the edges of the pot, but should not have reached boiling point. Remove from the heat and cover, then leave to infuse for 10 minutes. Remove the orange peels, then reheat the coconut milk mixture again until just before boiling. 

3. Pour the hot milk mixture over the chopped chocolate in the bowl, and allow to stand for 1 minute without stirring. After 1 minute, stir the mixture starting with small circles in the centre, until you see the chocolate and milk coming together and emulsifying. Stir in wider circles, to incorporate all the milk, until you obtain a glossy and smooth ganache.

4. Pour the ganache out into a low dish, and allow to cool for 4-6 hours, until firm but still workable. Using two small dessert spoons, scoop 1-inch balls of ganache onto a small baking sheet lined with parchment. You should obtain about 22-24 balls. 

5. Roll the balls between your palms, working quickly so as not to melt the ganache. Once all of them are rolled out, cover the baking sheet with beeswax wrap or plastic wrap. Allow the truffles to set for about 8-12 hours. They will firm up more. At this point, you can roll your vegan chocolate truffles in melted chocolate or in cocoa powder, or in cocoa powder mixed with powdered sugar, for a sweeter treat.

Roasted squash salad with greens

A fall and winter salad made with roasted kabocha and acorn squash, leafy greens, shallot, pistachios and goat feta cheese. The salad is dressed with an acid-forward vinaigrette to bring out the sweetness of the squash.

It is hard to play favourites with vegetables, because they are all amazing to me, even the weirdos like artichokes or kohlrabi. But I think the veg that’s easiest to love (besides corn) is winter squash. There are so many varieties, most of them incredibly tasty, and as a cook I am intrigued by all their possibilities:

• roast them, and add them to a grain bowl, or a salad

• blend them into soup

• use with pasta either as a lush sauce or as soft nubs scattered among spaghetti tangles

• spiralize them into baked nests to hold an egg each

• steam, mash and add flour to turn them into pillowy gnocchi

• shred spaghetti squash into noodle-like strands and eat with a vegetarian ragu

Besides the savoury applications, there are all the sweet options of course. Not just pie, but also cookies, pumpkin butter, or the delicious pumpkin lattes you can make to warm your belly in the fall and winter months – the list really is endless.

Kitchen notes

This salad is in heavy rotation in my house from fall all the way until spring has really settled in. I’m using two kinds of squashes, kabocha and acorn. Both have edible skin, but you may peel the kabocha if you prefer – most people do. They both roast into silken wedges, slices or cubes. 

Then, it’s very little work to toss the roasted squash with some greens, a thinly sliced shallot (don’t omit it, it delivers a welcome “onion spiciness” to the dish), some nuts for crunch, and a little feta, and you’ve just created a textured salad that’s a joy to eat. I normally serve this with a thick slice of seeded sourdough bread, but marinated beans, or cooked grains are both good side options too.   

The dressing is an acid-forward vinaigrette, and that’s because you need something sharp (like acid and salt) to counter the mellow sweetness of the squashes. When composing salads, I always think of the balance of salty, bitter, sweet and acidic, and then play with textures like creamy versus crunchy, to achieve an interesting result that delivers variety in every bite.

Styling notes

As I do with most salads, I assemble and dress it right before bringing it to the table, otherwise the dressing can quickly start to break down the greens. When I serve salads, I bring to the table extra seeds or garnish, so people can add more if they like theirs super crunchy or more heavily garnished.

When I style for the camera, the assembly is more intentional and the tossing much, much less vigorous. I add very little dressing, and before mixing things, I set aside the nicest slices of squash, and the crispest greens. Once gently tossed, I’ll start arranging on the serving plate I’m shooting them on. For the shallots, I place them with my fingers, or tweezers, where I want them on the plated salad. Rather than scattering the pistachios and feta all over, which can look messy, I group toppings so they are visible, but the salad looks more “composed” rather than thrown together for eating. 

I keep the dressing handy throughout the shoot, to touch the leaves up here and there as necessary. Salads require quick work, and are trickier to capture well. Unlike a muffin that can stay on set for hours looking the same, salads fizzle out quickly. This is where preparing the shoot ahead of time (sketching your composition, determining the angles you will shoot, having a shot list, or a strong mood board) can be really valuable.

Roasted squash salad with greens

Yields: 2 generous, or 4 small servings

Ingredients:

For the salad:

• 1/2 small kabocha squash 1 lb. (500 g) peeled, seeded, and cut into 1-inch cubes

• 1/2 medium acorn squash (350 g) washed, seeded, quartered, and cut into ⅓ inch slices

• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil divided

• ¼ to ½ tsp fine sea salt divided

• 2 medium shallots peeled and sliced very thinly (on a mandoline, or with a sharp knife)

• 6 cups (150 g) mixed greens a blend of spinach, arugula, baby kale, baby chard, escarole

• ⅓ cup (50 g) shelled roasted pistachios coarsely chopped

• 4 ounce (100 g) piece of goat feta cheese crumbled coarsely

For the dressing:

• 3 tbsp (45 ml) extra virgin olive oil

• 1 tbsp (15 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice

• ¼ tsp fine sea salt

• 3 grinds of black pepper freshly ground

• 1 tsp mild honey

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F and line two large (half-sheet) baking sheets with parchment paper.

• In a large bowl, toss the kabocha squash chunks with 1 tsp of the olive oil, and ¼ tsp of the fine sea salt, until thoroughly coated. Empty the squash pieces onto one of the baking sheets and arrange them in a single layer. In the same bowl, now empty, toss the acorn squash slices with the other 1 tsp of olive oil and remaining ¼ tsp salt. Arrange on the other baking sheet, then put both in the oven and roast for 35 minutes, or until deep golden and completely soft when pierced with a fork.

• While the squashes roast, prepare the vinaigrette. Whisk the lemon juice, salt and honey together in a small bowl. Take care that the honey has melted into the dressing, and has not collected in the bottom of the bowl. Add the olive oil and whisk again, then set aside until ready to dress the salad.

• When the squash is roasted, pull from the oven and let it cool down slightly. In a large bowl, toss together the greens, the shallots, and the warm squash. Add about 2-3 tablespoons of dressing, and toss to coat. You likely will not need all the dressing. Taste the salad, and adjust for salt if necessary, remembering that you’ll add the salty feta as a garnish too.

• When the salad is ready to be served, sprinkle with the nuts and feta, and serve. Offer small bowls of extra dressing, chopped nuts, or feta crumbles for those who want to add more. I like to serve alongside thick slices of sourdough bread, focaccia, a good, grainy baguette or a ficelle (like a baguette, but slimmer).

Notes:

The roasted squash, as well as the vinaigrette can be prepared ahead of time, but assemble only right before serving. Any additional leftover vinaigrette can be used with other salad greens, or even on cooked grains, like cooked spelt grains or wheat berries.

If you’d like to continue your “green eating” streak, why not check out this Green minestrone recipe, a warming and hearty soup for any season.

Green minestrone soup

This green minestrone is the perfect cozy soup for chilly winter days. Cooked white beans make it hearty. Serve it with a fresh garnish of herbs, lemon zest and juice, and if you want, some grated vegetarian pecorino cheese.

Every year when January comes around, I am feeling a twin pull. On the one hand, I am ready for fresher meals – something with lots of vegetables, something light, that doesn’t send me into a post-meal stupor. On the other hand, it is still very much winter, with temperatures to match, so I still crave foods that warm me from the inside out, when that cozy sweater and woollen socks just aren’t cutting it in the warming department.

Here’s where this green minestrone soup comes in. It ticks all the boxes, managing to be warming, cozy, light and satisfying all in one pot. And you can make it vegan by omitting the pecorino. This hearty soup feels very virtuous and I have no qualms about later enjoying some of the chocolate truffles I made a while back. Mostly because chocolate comes from a plant too. It’s all good!

Kitchen notes

The recipe, first time I made it, was inspired by one of Nigel Slater‘s. The green vegetables remind me of spring, and it’s a lighter but warming soup. The flavour base is leeks and green onions, you’ll want to gently sweat them in olive oil so they just sweeten, not brown. The green vegetables are added next: slim French green beans (called haricots verts in fancy food language), peas, and zucchini half-moons.

The white beans and orzo pasta (or cooked grains) will make the soup hearty. The pecorino (use a vegetarian option if you prefer), adds depth of flavour. The garnish of parsley, lemon zest, lemon juice and olive oil just brings a bit of zing to the dish. But you can just garnish with chopped fresh parsley if you can’t be bothered – though that extra final brightens the flavours so well with a herbaceous zing.

Styling notes

If you enjoy spending time to style this soup for the camera, this section is for you. The thing to remember is to not overcook the vegetables (they’ll turn olive green, instead of staying vibrantly green) and to prepare the garnish just before serving. Instead of adding the garnish on top, I prefer to leave some (or sometimes all of it) to the side, and in this way, on the table or on set, it creates context for the hero dish to shine in.

I also undercook the vegetables a bit, so they stay vibrant and in one piece when manipulated. I make sure to add to the bowl/plate I’ll be shooting the chunky bits first, then add broth around the veggies/pasta/beans. When I ladle out the vegetables, beans, or grains, I pay attention and set aside the nicely shaped and better looking ones. I place these on top, in a natural way, so the viewer understands from a glance what’s in the recipe. As I shoot I keep extra liquid handy, to brush on the exposed veggies, so they never look dry.

Green minestrone soup with herb, lemon, and olive oil sauce

Yields: 4 servings

Ingredients:

For the soup:

• 2 tbsp (30ml) extra virgin olive oil

• 1 leek (150 g) halved lengthwise, white and light green parts chopped

• 3 green onions (25 g) white and light green parts only, chopped

• 4 bay leaves

• ½ cup (100 g) orzo pasta

• 2 cups (190 g) French green beans, ends trimmed and cut into pieces

• 1 cup (150 g) peas, fresh or frozen

• 1 medium zucchini (170 g) cut in ¼-inch rounds

• 4-6 cups 1 litre-1.5 litre vegetable stock, home made or from an organic stock cube

• 1 can (398ml / 14fl oz.) navy beans drained and rinsed under cold water

• Salt and black pepper to taste

For the herb, lemon, and olive oil sauce:

• 3 tbsp finely chopped parsley

• ¼ tsp fine sea salt

• zest of 1 lemon finely zested on a microplane

• 1-2 tbsp lemon juice

• 3 tbsp olive oil

To serve:

• 1-inch chunk of Pecorino Crotonese cheese grated on a microplane grater, optional

Instructions:

• For the soup, in a large pot set on medium heat, heat the olive oil, then add the chopped leek and green onions. Lightly salt them, then sweat them, turning the heat down to medium low.

• When the leeks have softened, and before they start to brown, add the orzo pasta. If your green beans are as thick as a pencil, or frozen, add them now with the pasta. Stir orzo and green beans through the leek mixture, then add 4 cups of stock, stirring continuously for 1 minute to avoid it sticking.

• Bring to a boil, continuing to stir every minute or so, to avoid the pasta sticking to the bottom of the pot. If using home made and unsalted stock, add about ¼ tsp fine sea salt. When boiling, turn the heat down and simmer for 3 minutes, or until the green beans are cooked al dente.

• Add the peas and zucchini (and the green beans, if you were using slim, French ones, and didn’t add them before), and cook for another 3 minutes, until all the veggies and the orzo are completely cooked. Add the white beans and heat through. Season the soup with additional salt, if needed, and freshly ground black pepper. Don’t be too generous with the salt, as the herb sauce will be salty as well. Take off the heat and set aside while preparing the herb sauce.

• For the herb, lemon and olive oil sauce: add all ingredients to a small bowl, and stir. Start with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. The sauce should taste very bright, and fairly salty. To serve, ladle hot soup into bowls and add about 1 tbsp of herb sauce to each plate. If desired, garnish with finely grated Pecorino cheese. For children, keep the herb sauce on the side, so they can add it or not, as they prefer.