Pure Food and Wine, at Home

Pure Food and Wine (http://oneluckyduck.com/pages/pure-food-and-wine)is one of my all time favorite NYC spots.  They are a raw and vegan restaurant.  Now I know that immediately may turn some of you off, but trust me, it is amazing.  My favorite dish there is their "lasagna", and so I thought I would share how to do it at home.  While I can't take credit for the recipe, which I will share, I will say that it is one of my favorite summer meals. Not turning on the oven in the summer is a dream.  The other great part about this recipe is that all the steps can be made well in advance.  I have even assembled the lasagna, without the garnish, ahead of time.  This makes it a great dish for entertaining and one that will certainly impress your company.  

Here is the link the recipe:
http://nymag.com/restaurants/articles/recipes/zucchini_lemonpignoli.htm

The one thing about the recipe that I change, is the Pine-nut "Ricotta".  Instead of this, I make Cashew Cheese.  It has a creamy consistency like ricotta and the cashews are way cheaper than pine nuts.  

Cashew Cheese

1 cup Raw cashews

1 tablespoons of Nutritional Yeast

2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Salt and Pepper to taste

Water

First, soak the raw cashews in water for approximately 3 hours. Drain the water and put into a food processor with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, salt and pepper.  Start to run the food processor and drizzle in water through the feed tube.  Do this slowly, stopping to check if the consistency is to your liking (think ricotta, not cashew soup).  I use this all the time in recipes instead of cheese.  You'd be amazed how good it is!