Put any 2 vegans together in a room (or on a message board), and it’s not long before discussion turns to fake cheese. We’re all hunting to find the holy grail that tastes OK and melts. I don’t generally like to cook with fake products; I prefer to make the most of all the great things that are naturally vegan. But, it would be great once in a while to have use a fake cheese that didn’t look and taste like vomit.
A while ago I picked up some Sheese. I bought myself the blue cheese version because you don’t see it that often, and I thought that if they could get that right it’s a good sign for the other varieties. I’d had it lurking in my fridge for ages and I was too scared to open it, but eventually I caved in !
I’d been planning to try a vegan version of this Celia Brooks Brown dish. I’d had it many times in its original form, and I knew just how to do it. The peppers are naturally vegan, and I was going to replace the gorgonzola polenta with the millet and spinach polenta from Vegan with a Vengeance, which I love. Now I was torn. I didn’t want to ruin a perfectly nice meal if the Sheese turned out to be repulsive. So, in the interests of experimentation, I made both (See how good I am to you?) I also wanted to see how the Sheese melted so I added in a few cubes to one half of the peppers. Here’s the result:
The one on the left is the VWAV millet, which was delicious. The one one the right has the Sheese in. The polenta didn’t get as bubby and melty but it definitely tasted blue and similar to the original. As you can just about see, the cubed Sheese didn’t go runny but it certainly melted and was quite creamy – a bit like a hard blue cheese like Danish Blue, I suppose.
If I was feeding non-vegans, I’d definitely feel confident in serving the “naturally vegan” version. But I’d make myself the blue cheese version again for sure. I’ve still got some of the Sheese left so further experimentation to follow.
Cooking the Vegan Books 