My sister-in-law Jenn is a culinary genius. She’s really creative and I’ve been trying to get her on the food blogging bandwagon for a long time now. She’s set up a blog and is slowly but surely getting stuff on there. You can check out her beginnings in blogging here.
She always has amazing ideas to give me for new vegan and gluten-free things. I wish she lived with me so she and I could just play in the kitchen all the time.
This recipe was given to me by her. She found it in a random woman’s magazine that my mother gave her. My mother found the magazine in the laundry room of her apartment building and she took it. And here I am sharing it with you.
- 1 cup blanched almonds
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 clove garlic
- 1¼ teaspoons salt
- Rinse almonds in cold water. Place in a large bowl and add water to cover by 3 inches. Cover and let stand overnight.
- Drain and rinse the almonds. Discard water. Transfer almonds to a food processor. Add ½ cup water, lemon juice, olive oil, garlic and salt. Cover and process for 5 or 6 minutes until pureed.
- Line a large strainer with four layers of cheesecloth and place over a large bowl. Pour almond mixture into prepared cheesecloth. Bring up corners of cheesecloth and tie to form a bag. Refrigerate in fridge overnight.
- Squeeze out liquid. Remove cheesecloth and discard liquid in bowl. Transfer ball to parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten into a disk around 6 inches in diameter.
- Bake at 200°F for 35-40 minutes until firm. Do not let it brown. Let cool then refrigerate until chilled.
So I realized something while I was doing the final baking thing. If you let the edges get firm you’ll have feta. If you leave the center a bit softer you’ll get ricotta. Kinda. So, that’s what I did and now I have two ‘cheeses’. The flavor of this faux cheese is really great. I think even non-vegans would appreciate this.
The “feta” cheese looks awesome! Do you have a recipe to make vegan/gf spanakopita using some sort of gf pastry instead of traditional phyllo?
I am sure I could find a substitute for regular phyllo. Now that you’ve put the idea out there I feel like it’s a challenge! This ‘feta’ would work awesome in spanakopita! Mmmm.
This recipe looks awesome – I was actually hunting for a vegan feta *specifically* to make a GF/CF spanakopita! I recommend using rice paper in place of the phyllo dough – brush it with olive oil. Yum!
I think you’ll really like this “feta”. I seriously ate the majority of it just as a snack on crackers and stuff. It would also be a great base recipe to make a vegan Boursin type cheese spread now that I think of it. (Yes, I think I’ll have to experiment and post my results!)
Thanks for the tip about the rice paper in place of phyllo dough. I’ve used rice paper in place of spring roll wrappers and such before but didn’t think to use it for spanakopita. Great idea. I also found a recipe for phyllo using Better Batter gluten-free flour blend and since I just picked some up the other day for the first time, I thought I’d give it a try. I’ll be posting about my results when I finally get around to making the dough!
Cheers! Enjoy the long weekend if you get one where you’re at! 🙂
I’ve tried a similar recipe I found, but it used olive oil instead of, or in addition to, the water. I posted pics on my blog as well. Nice to see it works without the oil as well!
I’d like to check it out and give it a try. I’m always a fan of different versions of my favs. What’s your blog address? 🙂
Hey thats great but I cant eat almonds, does it work with other nuts?
Can you have cashews or walnuts or pine nuts? A mixture of those might work pretty good I think! I haven’t tried it yet though. 🙂
thanks i’ll give the walnuts and pine nuts a try
Please let me know how it turns out for you. I’m curious! I think next time I need to make this I’m going to experiment more with different nuts too.
I’ve tried it with cashews and macadamia nuts and it us totally yum. Used as a sauce in your lasagne recipe.
Thank you so very much for the feta cheese recipe! I have missed the cheese in my recipes for salads and Greek pizza toppings. I have gone gluten free and vegan due to several food allergies. I have even found sourdough recipes that are gluten free and vegan. I have been doing sourdough since my mother passed it on to me. I even feel so much better after my body recovered from the reactions to the food. Thanks for your site.
You’re welcome Carolyn! It really does the trick when you’re craving that saltiness and creaminess of feta doesn’t it!? I’m glad you’re feeling better now that you’re on a gluten-free and vegan diet! Keep it up. 🙂
Did you bake it longer to reach “feta”? Trying to transition to vegan, but the cheese cravings trip me up. lol
That’s right Tanya. If you want a softer ‘cheese’ just use it right after blending. If you want it to be a drier more crumbly ‘cheese’ like feta, then bake it as directed. I use this ‘cheese’ in so many other recipes too. It’s quite versatile and for me it totally satisfies that creamy, salty quality that I crave in cheese. Enjoy!
Can I use roasted almonds or should they be raw? Thanks!
You should use raw blanched almonds for this recipe.
Thanks, I didn’t realize that was a type of almond. ;p
This sounds amazing, and looks great.
Think I will try it but in the dehydrator instead of the oven.
Hi! The first time I made this recipe the most cumbersome part was blanching the almonds (my mom always made it look so easy…). So, Trader Joes has slivered blanched raw almonds which I’m going to try out this time. Any thoughts on how it might change the quantities? I’m using 2c of slivered almonds (which are soaking now), and I’m just planning on playing with the water/lemon juice amounts to get to the right consistency. I’ll let you know, but if you have nay early thoughts on how this may (or may not) work I’d appreciate hearing them!
Could you use this in Lasagna, ya think??
Absolutely. In fact, you can check out my very favorite Roasted or Grilled Veggie Lasagna recipe to see how I’ve used this Almond Ricotta here: http://www.thesethingsilove.com/2013/04/roasted-or-grilled-vegetable-lasagna/
Feta and ricotta are not the same thing. Ricotta is mostly a bland cheese that can be made savory or sweet. There is no tang to plain ricotta. It’s soft.
Feta is salty and has a nice tangy bite to it depending upon where it’s made and the quality. Typically made with goat milk (provides the tang).
That being said, It’s a different cheese and different process. Also depends upon whether you ferment the cheese or not, which I would do when making feta.
If you know the origin of the original recipe, you really should provide a link or at least reference.