Black Pepper Sherry Cashew Cream
Omg. OMG. Do I have a winner for you.
As the only plant-based eater in my family, I often find myself in restaurants that are seemingly difficult for vegetarians to navigate. Ironically, steakhouses are some of my favorites to be “that person” at. My husband always pokes fun at me, “What are you even gonna eat? A side of veggies? lololol”. <insert eye roll here> And every time I’m like, “Yeah bro. Didn’t you know that’s what I came for?” Sass aside, it’s true. Even before I transitioned to a plant-based diet, the veg options at steakhouses were my favorite part of the whole experience. I mean, who doesn’t love charred peppers, mushrooms and asparagus? And don’t even get me started on how much I love potatoes.
All of that aside, one thing I do miss out on is a good sauce. One of my all time favorites was sauce au poivre (black pepper sauce). It’s traditionally made with butter, shallots, garlic, brandy, a healthy pour of black pepper and cream. I’ve recreated a plant-based version of this that I’m SUPER proud of. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do :)
Here’s what you’ll need:
1 cup of cashews, soaked for at least 4 hours
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced
1ish cup sherry wine
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
a few ounces of vegetable broth to thin
Method:
Drain your cashews and place them in the pitcher of a high-speed blender.
Heat a medium-sized saute pan over medium-low heat. Add the oil, shallot and garlic; stir, and allow to sweat for a few minutes until translucent and starting to brown (be careful with this part - you don’t want either of these aromatics to get too dark as they will become bitter). Turn up the heat to medium, and add the sherry to the pan. Bring the sherry to a boil, and allow the alcohol to cook off for a few minutes (you can check by wafting some of the steam toward your nose every so often - the pungent smell of alcohol will be gone when its ready). Carefully, tip the contents of your pan into the pitcher of your blender (I recommend doing this over the sink). To the pitcher, add half of the salt and all of the pepper. Pop the lid on, and begin your blending process on low. This will get the bigger chunks of cashew broken down. Gradually increase to high-speed, drizzling in an ounce or two of vegetable broth at a time. I’d say blend everything together on high-speed for a minimum of 3 minutes. You can add more vegetable broth if you’re looking for a looser sauce, or keep it to a few ounces if you like more of a béchamel consistency like I do. Your end product should be velvety smooth. Taste for seasoning, and blend in more salt or pepper to your liking. Serve with charred veggies, baked potatoes, portobello steaks…really anything you want! This sauce would also be amazing with pasta.