The trick for making a really great cashew cheese sauce is to blend and blend and blend. You want to get the cashews to completely breakdown and release their oil. Take breaks between blending so you don’t burn the motor of your blender, and keep going. You probably want to blend it for total of 1 1/2 minutes, which is longer than you think.
This recipe makes about 1 cup of sauce, which serves about 8. Don't half the recipe— it will be to small a quantity to blend properly. The sauce is also great with crudite and in sandwiches.
Ingredients :
1 small head of broccoli per person
Olive oil
1 cup of cashews (soaked)
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4 teaspoon horseradish
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
3/4 cup water
Preheat oven to 350º
Cut the broccoli into florets and toss them with a bit of olive oil.
Place the broccoli on a cookie sheet, sprinkle with a bit of salt, and roast until the edges are brown and crispy- about 15 minutes
Soak the cashews in water for at least an hour or better yet, soak them overnight. Drain them and add them to a blender with the lemon, salt, nutritional yeast, horseradish, turmeric and water. Blend away! Taste and adjust the seasoning to your liking. You can also add an extra 1-2 Tablespoons of water for a runnier sauce.
Serve the broccoli with a few Tablespoons of sauce poured on top.