INGREDIENTS:
- 2 butternut squash, halved & seeds removed
- 40g chopped walnuts, divided
- 40g dried cranberries, divided
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- Cashew cheese, recipe below
- 20g breadcrumbs
- 55g cashews
- 400g firm tofu
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder or 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
METHOD:
- Pre-heat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius
- Chop the butternut squash in half and remove the seeds and the stringy bits from around the seeds.
- Fill a roasting tin with 1/4 inch of water, then the put the squash halves in water, facing up. Cover the tray with aluminium foil and bake at 230 C for 35-45 minutes, until the squash are easily pierced with a fork.
- Remove the squash from the oven and allow to cool down a bit. Once the squash are cool, scoop out the flesh from inside and place in a mixing bowl. Mash the squash insides like you would a potato, and mix with half the chopped walnuts and half the dried cranberries, the cinnamon, the nutmeg, and the cashew cheese.
- In a small bowl, mix the breadcrumbs and the rest of the walnuts and cranberries.
- Spread the breadcrumb, walnut and cranberry mixture on top of the butternut squash halves and bake for another 20-25 minutes or so.
- Serve with roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, gravy and whatever other trimmings you fancy for a delicious Christmas dinner or Sunday roast!
- After 8 hours, stir again and add the soy milk. Stir this into the soup and turn the heat off.
- You can either soak the cashews in water overnight and then blend with the rest of the ingredients, or you can skip soaking and instead put unsoaked cashews in a spice grinder and grind to a fine dust before blending with the rest of the ingredients. I find that unless you have a high-speed blender, it’s difficult to get all the cashews blended finely, so I prefer the method of grinding unsoaked cashews in the spice grinder first.
- Soak cashews in water overnight and then drain or, if you prefer, don’t soak them and place the unsoaked cashews in a spice grinder and grind to a fine dust.
- Place cashews and the rest of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until it has formed a fine paste, stopping to push the mixture down the sides occasionally.
- This cashew cheese is great in ravioli or lasagne in place of ricotta, as well as in the twice-baked butternut squash!