Making your own vegan, non dairy, no cheese Cheesy spread

Yet again Engevita Nutritional Yeast Flakes take centre stage. I can’t rave about them enough, they are so versatile adding that cheesy taste to sauces, mayonnaise, and now a cheese substitute. This is a cheesy spread/soft cheese you can make yourself and use for all sorts of things. Great on crackers, with salads, in sandwiches or great used to stuff tomatoes or peppers with added chopped beetroot, spring onions and a little garlic. You really can let your imagination run riot and add almost anything to the basic mix.  You can even thin it down with a little water to use as a sauce.

Here is the basic mix:

400g pinenuts
250g extra virgin olive oil
2 whole lemons, zested, then peeled and quartered
1 medium onion
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
a little crushed garlic to taste (optional)
Sea salt to taste

Directions:

Soak pinenuts for 1 hour. Drain, then put them in a food processor with the  olive oil, lemon quarters, lemon zest, and onion. Process for about 7-8 minutes until everything begins to look creamy and stuck together with a good texture.  It is now just a matter of blending in the yeast flakes.  This works best in a blender but I don’t like washing up so I perservere with the processor until the mix is smooth, thick and creamy.  This is the basic mix to which you can add galic, salt and pepper to taste.  Plus anything else for that matter.