Nut Cheese is the BIGGEST Food Trend to Watch!
This week saw a fantastic live nut cheese Cook-along take place with eighteen cooks and foodie influencers live on Zoom!
The participants all received 280g of delicious whole macadamia nuts from Nutcellars smallholder farmers in Malawi.
Here’s how all the fun unfolded and the how Bettina’s creamy nut cheese was made:
Andrew Emmott, Director of Nutcellars said
Today’s Cookalong session was a huge success, our cheese turned our perfectly and we’re really looking forward to having it for supper. Our fellow Cookalong cooks suggested incorporating it in cannelloni or in lasagne. Another chef suggested introducing sun dried tomatoes, olives or peppers – The scope is really endless with such a delicious base. We were delighted to showcase the versatility of our fantastic macadamia nuts in nut cheese, set to be perhaps the biggest plant-based food trend of 2020!”
All Cook-along participants were asked to pre-soak their 280g of pre-posted macadamia overnight.
Plant-based influencer, Bettina Campulocci Bordi hosted the session and gave the class step-by-step instructions on how to create the creamy garlic and herb cheese in a chef’s ring, to then be chilled in the fridge.
The cheese lasts around five to seven days when refrigerated and is great as a canape ingredient, stuffed in a fresh fig or perfect with homemade sourdough.
Bettina said
“This is such a good way of utilising the brilliant properties of the macadamia nut and nut cheese is becoming increasing popular. This makes a creamy full fat cheese filled with all the good stuff. Easy to make, fulfilling and comforting on all levels. It’s great on a cheeseboard as well as on a fresh piece of bread. This delicious, creamy macadamia nut cheese is a great add on to an alfresco picnic table or a perfect for a summary porch dinner with a glass of chilled white wine.”
Bettina’s Recipe
Makes 1 big cheese or two smaller ones
- 280 g (approx. 2 cups)
- macadamia nuts
- 160 ml (5 fl oz / 2/3 cup) water
- 2 tbs lemon juice & zest
- 1 grated garlic clove
- 2 tbs of chives (chopped)
- pinch of salt
Bettina’s Method…in her words…
Start by soaking the macadamia nuts for 2 hours by putting them in a bowl and covering with water. Or even better the night before. Drain the nuts and tip them into a blender along with the water and blitz until you get a smooth texture. If you have a small handheld blender, then blitz until smooth over several times. As this is a soft style cheese the texture can be slightly bitty, which I personally love. If you are doing this in a high-speed blender, make sure not to over heat or over blend. You want the texture to be ricotta like.
Once blended, transfer to a clean glass or plastic container. Now it is time to flavour your cheese. Add lemon juice, zest, grated garlic, chopped chives, salt and pepper to taste. and mix well. Get your metal chefs ring out or a small bowl wrapped in cling film. If you’re doing the chef’s ring then place some grease proof paper under the ring. Grease the inside of the ring with some oil and add your cheese mixture in and until the top.
You can let the cheese sit in the fridge for a few hours to set and let the flavours marry together. Once chilled, pop the chefs ring off and serve with fresh baguette French-style or some lovely homemade sourdough. The cheese will last for up to 7 days in the fridge.
To get your hands on some creamy Macadamia nuts and have a go at making the new food of the Gods, visit the site here and get a whopping 20% off with the code: TCF20