You may be thinking "Really, your last MoFo blog is kind of a repeat from last night?" Listen, in this final post, I present you with Grandma Gilmore's Herbed Cheese (Adapted). This is a whole different level of yum, and...waste not your delicious leftovers.
Yesterday, I simply used cream cheese and cream cheese with a bit of rosemary in my dishes. Today, the hub's favorite family recipe elevated the vegetable flavors and the garlic hint of the polenta. With the reduction of vermouth by 1 T. and additional time in the fridge, this cheese is also fantastic when simply served with crackers or veggies. I would say that this isn't your grandmama's cheese dip, but it is ours ...and it ROCKS!
For the polenta, I used the recipe in Jae Steele's Get It Ripe. I included 2 minced cloves of garlic and needed an extra 2 c. of water for the polenta. Make this first as any polenta recipe that I have used requires time to set.
Then, make...
Grandma Gilmore's Herbed Cheese (Adapted)
1 8 oz. pkg of vegan cream cheese
3/4 t. garlic powder
2 T dry white vermouth
1/2 t. minced dried parsley
dash of salt and pepper
1/4 t. dried basil
scant 1/4 t. - 1/8 t. of each of the following: dried tarragon, thyme, sage
1 t. minced shallot, really any available sweeter onion (or 1/4 t. minced dried chives, as per the original)
Mix all, and return to refrigerator to harden for several hours (if serving as cheese with crackers) or for 20 min. or so for looser consistency perfect for topping/recipe integration.
This cheese is amazing. Seriously, it is one of those recipes that is so easy and so quickly consumed, you will wonder why you spent 2 extra hours making fancy canapes when people chowed down on this. The first time I had this cheese in my vegetarian days, I was seriously embarrassed because I think that I ate a whole batch myself. I'm not kidding. Good thing the hub tried to cover for me, and Grandma made a double batch. I plan to try a nut variation of this dish...if anyone gets to it first, let me know how it turns out as a nut cheese.
Back to the meal: While cheese is firming...
Fry polenta rounds, and reheat veggies. If doing veggie hash the same day, chop the veggies for the veggie hash first and start frying rounds when you start sauteeing veggies. That way, everything should wrap at the same time.
This dish is decadent. One serving as pictured is a fantastic starter dish or a fantastic main dish when accompanied by a salad. Frankly, I just ate two and was happy. You can totally health this up by using spray to fry polenta, water sauteing veggie hash (still using wine), and being mindful of cheese topping portion. Other than that, vegtastic it is!
Trust me, this is a crowd-pleaser. The hub is probably the toughest possible critic of this cheese and cream cheese use in general, since they are two of his favorite things. He loved this and actually looks forward to its repeat appearance in his lunch tomorrow. Since he usually abstains from repeats and is still acclimating to a plethora of veggies, this excitement on his part says it all!
Although today, we bid farewell to the Vegan Month of Food, the blog will continue on! To fellow MoFoers, thank you for all that you have offered and inspired thus far, and I look forward to finally getting to peruse all 700+ blogs. To all of my blog readers, thank you for your support; I look forward to continuing to share much more with you in the entries to come.
And now, to the treatery...
K
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