Broccoli Raab Pesto

Broccoli Raab Pesto

About half a pound of broccoli raab greens
1/2 cup of pine nuts
Three medium cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup of water or lemon juice
Salt to taste

Blanch greens in boiling water for about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and rinse in cold water. Reserve 1/4 cup of cooking liquid for use later in recipe, if desired. Drain and squeeze all excess water from greens and coarsely chop. Add greens, garlic, olive oil, nuts and water to Blendtec and pulse until well blended. It may take awhile to get completely mixed--when it looks well integrated and creamy, it is ready.

This experiment came about as a result of a great deal at the Farmer's Market that resulted in two gigantic bunches of broccoli raab, and a Christmas gift of pinenuts (I had let my family know there are certain kitchen items I consider somewhat of a luxury). The bunches were so big that I was having trouble fitting them in my crisper drawer, and the leaves were getting unhappy fast. So I chopped off the upper parts of both bunches, saving the lower stalks for another use (though a number of stems still made it in, and probably don't hurt), and put them to work in this recipe.

I was impressed by the bright color and thought it tasted great and not much different from basil pesto. So far we've used it on vegan pizza, and as a garnish on a blended white bean soup.

Cashew-chatel Cheese

2 cups raw cashew pieces
1/3 cup large flake nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons of miso paste
juice of half a lemon
1/2 - 1 cup water (to desired consistency)

Add all ingredients to Blendtec. Based on the recipe for Peanut Butter in the Blendtec Recipes Book, cycle blender up to Cycle 1, and allow to finish cycle. (It may appear as though nothing is happening.) Then cycle up to Cycle 5 and allow to run full cycle. Between cycles, scrape mixtures towards the blades. You will notice that the mixture near the blades gets creamier and smoother with time. Repeat process until mixture reaches desired consistency. Adding water may speed the process but will make it thinner. I added about half a cup of water and my "cheese" was spreadable, but a little thinner than your average nut butter right out of the blender. A day later we discovered it had firmed up closer to a cream cheese consistency (see picture above).

This turned out well, and went great on a freshly homemade bagel---"cheesy," thanks to the nooch, with a nice texture. The sweetness of the cashews really still comes through, more miso probably wouldn't hurt. You could also replace some of the cashews with cooked white beans, but I would recommend making your nut "butter" first, and adding the other ingredients later, as it can be a challenge to get the nuts thoroughly ground up. Soaking the nuts overnight might also ease the process.