No-Egg Gnocchi with Roasted Garlic Cashew Nut "Cheese" {Vegan}

It's a new year, and the 5 Star Makeover group has undergone a transformation. We have a new logo and name:

As you can see, we're now the Creative Cooking Crew, helmed by Lazaro of Lazaro Cooks and Joan of Foodalogue. Rather than doing makeovers, our mission each month is to create original dishes inspired by a theme.

This month, the challenge was to create a vegan dish inspired by a meat or animal-product-heavy meal. I drew inspiration from one of my very favorite fattening things: gnocchi slathered with plenty of butter and Parmesan cheese.


To make this vegan, my gnocchi are eggless, and my "cheese" is made from a blend of raw cashew nuts and miso, flavored with roast garlic, white pepper, salt, and a bit of lemon juice. Does it taste like Parmesan? No, but it does have a rich, tangy, nutty flavor that Poppa Trix and I both enjoyed.

Doesn't look vegan, does it? But it is!

I had my first taste of cashew "cheese" many years ago on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, at a now-defunct vegetarian restaurant called Counter.  I have never had or seen it since, but as it turns out it's not hard to make. The basic version calls for raw cashews (I used 2 cups) soaked in salted water for several hours, then pureed with a bit of water, until the whole things is spreadable. Then for the fun part: adding things to it!

The yellow miso that I used gave it a tangy, cheese-y flavor, the roasted garlic (two whole bulbs!) imparted earthy umami, while the lemon juice brightened the whole thing up. A bit of white pepper and a pinch of salt and my "cheese" was ready for noshing.

Ah, but my no-egg gnocchi were not, alas, as drama-free. Now, I have successfully made gnocchi many times before, but I've always used egg. In theory, you make vegan ones the same way - Russet or Idaho potatoes put through a ricer, flour, salt - except you omit the egg.

In theory.

I am not sure if my potatoes had too much moisture, or if I didn't use enough flour, but the blasted things were turning to mush when I plopped them into boiling water. Unacceptable. I was ready to throw them all into the trash, when Poppa Trix suggested that I bypass the boiling part and just try to bake them.

Against my expectations, it actually kind of worked. I say kind of because they didn't end up with a soft, pillowy, gnocchi-like texture; instead, they crisped up on the outside and got fluffy on the inside. Sort of like a cross between a mini potato croquette and a Tater Tot.  Not a bad thing, to be sure.

To serve, I pan fried them in a bit of olive oil, tossed in some of the cashew "cheese," and topped it all with lemon zest and basil.

Leave it to me to make a vegan dish that's probably even more fattening than its cheesy counterpart.

Oh well - worth it. On January 28, Joan is going to post the round up on her blog - 24 delicious vegan recipes for you to try, so don't forget to check it out!