Baked Almond Feta

I am FINALLY sharing this amazing recipe for almond baked feta! I first made this for a New year’s party when we first moved to our flat, and it was a roaring success, from then on I’ve made it countless times for dinner parties, or simply for us to enjoy through the week!

It’s a blender recipe, which is really easy, and not as daunting as it may sound! There’s a little bit of squeezing, and moulding, and drizzling to do, but nothing too difficult.

One of those recipes which was like a lightbulb moment when I first went vegan… “YOU MEAN I CAN MAKE CHEESE FROM ALMONDS AND IT TASTES LIKE BOURSIN?!” Yes, my friend, you can!

This is the beauty of vegan cooking, you discover ways to use ingredients that you would have NEVER thought about before, it opens up a whole new world of possibilities and fun!

If you haven’t yet, you can sign up to my newsletter here, to receive my FREE Guide to going Plant-Based, full of tips and resources, add this recipe to your books, and have fun cooking with plants!

Ingredients :

• 2 cups of raw blanched almonds (the flaked almonds you get for baking are what I normally use!)

• 1/4 cup of lemon juice

• 2 cloves of garlic peeled (remember to also take out the green stem in the middle, it’s very indigestible)

• 2 tbsp of plain, unsweetened yoghurt such as soy/almond

• 1 big pinch of salt (about 1 tsp but taste the mixture before baking!)

• 1/2 cup or more of filtered water (as much as necessary to get the blades moving!)

• 1 small shallot, peeled of course (optional but recommended!)

• Optional : cracked black pepper, dried herbs such as thyme, rosemary, chives.. you can flavour this any way you want!

Method :

• Soak your raw blanched almonds, or flaked raw almonds, covered in boiling water for 30min minimum (leave them longer if you don’t have a high-speed blender! overnight would work)

• Preheat your oven at 180C on fan!

• Place your almonds, garlic, lemon juice, yoghurt, salt, shallot if you want, and any other extras such as black pepper.. into a blender, with about 1/2 of water, you might need less or a bit more depending on your blender, just add enough to get your blades moving! You will have to scrape the sides and blend over a couple of times until the mixture is soft, smooth and creamy.

• Do a taste test at that point, and check if you’d like to add more salt, or you decided you might want to add more herbs? Trust your gut! Blend once more to mix it all up. (don’t be worried, at that stage the shallot/garlic taste will be overpowering because it’s raw, it will tone down a lot once cooked!)

• Place a cheesecloth, or nut milk bag over a bowl, and pour the creamy smooth mixture onto the center of the cheesecloth to drain any excess water! Wrap it up tight into a ball, and squeeze as much moisture as you can. The surface will be drier than the centre of the ball and that’s all good!

• Once you’re satisfied with enough squeezing, delicately, unwrap the cheesecloth off the ball, and place it on an ovenproof non-stick tray, or dish with parchment paper. You might have to form/tighten the ball once placed on the tray with your hands, try and keep it as intact as possible! (I like to flip it so the ugly wrinkled part is on the bottom, and the top is smooth and beautiful!)

• Place in the oven for about 20 to 30 min, or until the feta has turned beautifully golden!

• Once it’s out of the oven, you can drizzle some good quality extra virgin olive oil straight on, or if you’re feeling fancy, place just under 1/4 cup of olive oil in a saucepan, with some fresh herbs such as thyme or rosemary, to infuse the oil over a low heat, don’t let the oil get too hot!! just let it infuse slowly for a few minutes, and then drizzle on your still warm feta that’s been placed in the bowl/plate you want to serve it on… and dig in!

• Best eaten warm out of the oven, but this keeps and hardens once put in an airtight container in the fridge, it has a crumbly texture, that I like to spread on bread, or sprinkle on salads, or pasta!

Ahhhh ENJOY! This is one of my favourite things to make, and one of those recipes that made my vegan transition so much easier! It’s such an easy plant cheese to make, and you will impress all your friends and family! Perfect for this festive season, or year round, let’s be honest! I’d eat this on just about anything… ha! Let me know if you try it..! You can tag me @taniajoyfjane on Instagram, so I can see it :)