Real Food Daily, Cashew Cheese Nachos recipe and Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution Petition

by Family Concierge

Inside Real Food Daily in West Hollywood

Once again I am back on my aim to cook delicious and nutritious vegan meals that delights commited meat eaters. A client and her family are slowly achieving this goal, so I get to cook many delicious vegan dishes that anyone will enjoy.

For help and inspiration, one of my sources is the popular restaurant Real Food Daily. I now eat at the original one in Santa Monica. The West Hollywood restaurant is better known.

Here is a copy of their menu:
RFD menu

My client has children to satisfy, they wanted the cashew cheese nachos. The cashew cheese is delicious and easy to make. A great crowd pleaser for an appetizer where you need to cater to someone who needs to eat dairy free.

RFD's Cashew Cheese Nachos

“RFD’s tempting take on this cheesy favorite has layers of all the gooey and yummy things that make Mexican food so satisfying. Using a frying pan rather than saucepan to fry tortillas provides more surface so that you can cook larger batches without crowding.”

1 cup canola oil
12 (6-inch) corn tortillas, cut into wedges
Sea salt
1/3 cup melted Cashew Cheddar Cheese (recipe follows)
1/2 cup black beans
1/4 cup pico de gallo
1/4 guacamole
2 Tbsp. tofu sour cream
1 green onion (white and green parts), thinly sliced,

Heat the oil in a large, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Working in batches, add the tortillas and fry, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes, or until golden. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the chips to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Sprinkle with salt.

Arrange the warm chips over a large platter. Spoon the warm melted cheese over the chips, then spoon the over the cheese. Spoon the pica the gallo over the beans and top with the guacamole. Drizzle with on the sour cream, sprinkle with the green onion, and serve immediately.

CASHEW CHEDDAR CHEESE
Makes 4 cups

“This cheese is great for shredding or melting. Cashews work better than other nuts because they blend into such a creamy, rich consistency. If you are not satisfied with the cheese’s final consistency or texture, blame the agar flakes; all store-bought brands of agar flakes are cut differently which unfortunately affects the amount if measured by volume. If you rather not learn the hard way like as I did, go by the provided weight rather than cup weight.”

1 1/4 cups raw cashews
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp onion powder
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
3 1/2 cups unsweetened soymilk
1 cup agar flakes (about 2 ounces)
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup yellow miso
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 1 lemon)

Using the pulse button, finely grind the cashews in a food processor; don’t allow the cashews to turn into a paste. Add the nutritional yeast, onion powder, salt, garlic powder, and white pepper. Pulse three more times to blend in the spices; set aside.

Combine in the soymilk, agar, and oil in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a simmer over high heat. Decrease the heat to medium-high, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until the agar is dissolved.

With the food processor running, gradually pour the soymilk mixture through the feed tube and into the cashew mixture. Blend for 2 minutes or until very smooth and creamy, and then blend in the miso and lemon juice.

The cheese will keep will keep 4 days covered and refrigerated.

FOR GRATED OR SLICED CHEESE:
Transer the cheese to a container, cover and refrigerate about 4 hours until very firm. Once its firm, grate or slice as desired.

FOR MELTED CHEESE:
Use the cheese immediately as melted cheese. Alternatively, make the cheese in advance, cover and refrigerate. When you’re ready to use the cheese, melt it in a saucepan over medium-high heat until smooth and creamy, stirring frequently. If needed, add more soymilk for a thinner consistency.

FOR JALAPENO CASHEW CHEDDAR CHEESE:
Stir in 2 Tbsp. minced jalapeno pepper chiles into 2 cups of melted cheese.

On a final note, if you haven’t done so already, please sign Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution. His goal is to bring more nutritious food to school dinners in America. Here is the website to add yourself to: http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition