parmesan
Posted by secondbase on Oct 25, 2006 · Member since Dec 2005 · 5540 posts
i've seen various soy/rice parmesans available at local health food stores and at whole foods. i personally enjoy making parmesan from raw walnuts, nutritional yeast and celtic sea salt. the store bought stuff seems kinda pricey, especially considering every recipe that calls for it is asking for 1/3 cup, 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup. is my version a reasonable substitute? i was looking to make a pesto sauce, but don't want to ruin the flavor. is there much of a difference?
Your version sounds completely reasonable. I withhold the parmesan altogether from pesto half the time-- and I'm L-O-veg. I just prefer the unadulterated brightness of the herbs without the muddying from too many rich flavors. Anyway, walnuts/yeast/salt sounds great.
Walnuts are great in pesto anyway. My friend in Peru makes her pesto with walnuts instead of pine nuts-- since pine nuts are considered medicine-only there.
I use nutritional yeast in my pesto and on anything I'd put parmesan. I love nutritional yeast... Also, similar to the walnut thing, I use finely groung almonds, nutritional yeast and celtic sea salt. MmmmMmm, nutritional yeast and celtic sea salt. :)
mmmm yes. nutritional yeast is a godsend! i'm going to try an olive-basil pesto with my own version of "parmesan"
I use the Vegan With a Vengeance pesto recipe, which uses nutritional yeast. It is really tasty! I have also experimented with different nuts & my husband & I both like toasted almond pieces instead of the traditional walnuts. :D
Oooooh thanks for the idea on making your own parmesan :D I've been trying to get ahold of some for a while and can never find it.
Where do you get celtic sea salt from? Is regular sea salt ok?
regular sea salt should work just fine. for a little extra kick, add a touch of garlic powder or onion powder!
what is celtic sea salt?? is it just a specific brand of sea salt?