Recipe: Baked Pesto Mushies with Crunchy Cashew Cheese

There was a couple I once knew who would make these amazing stuffed mushrooms. They’d bring them along to parties pre-made, chuck them in the oven for 10 minutes and pop them out for party-goers to munch on. You wouldn’t want to be in the bathroom powdering your nose when they got placed on the table. Blink and you would miss bagging yourself a delicious mushroomy morsel.

I’ve dreamt of those mushrooms for a long while. Only problem is they had cheese on them and I never did actually write the recipe down.

Then I realised you could make cheese out of cashews!

My life got significantly better after that and this vegan version of the amazing stuffed mushrooms was created.

What goes in:

20 button mushrooms

For the pesto herby goodness:

· 4 garlic cloves

· 2 spring onions

· 2 cups basil leaves

· 1/2 cup chives

· 4 small red chillies

· 1/4 cup pine nuts

· 5 tablespoons olive oil

· Juice from half a lemon

· Salt to taste

For the cashew cheesey goodness

· 3/4 cup cashews

· 2-4 tablespoons of water

· 1 garlic clove

· 3 teaspoons nutritional yeast

· Juice from half a lemon

· Salt to taste

How you do it:

Soak the cashews in water for at least three hours but overnight is better.

To make the pesto

Crush the garlic and loosely chop the herbs, chilli and spring onions. Place these and the remaining ingredients into a food processor and pulse until chopped finely. Place to one side.

To make the cashew cheese

Place your soaked cashews and the water into a food processor. Pulse until the mixture becomes smooth and free of lumps. This can take a while. Crush the garlic and then add all the remaining ingredients to the cashew mixture.  Again, pulse until everything is smooth and mixed through.

If you have the time, it’s worthwhile popping both the pesto and the cashew cheese into the fridge for a few hours to allow the flavours to blend and settle.

Assembling the mushies

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C. Wash the mushrooms and pull out the stems. Scoop the pesto into the mushroom heads, then add a dollop of the cashew cheese on top. Sprinkle with freshly cracked pepper. Place in the oven and bake for 10-20 minutes until the cashew cheese is golden and the mushrooms are cooked through.

Pop them out on a serving platter and watch the little guys disappear before your eyes.