Step 1: Shaving the Walnuts
- 1/2 to 1 cup walnut halves, frozen
Note: When buying the walnuts, look for halves that are very large and preferably not broken at all. In this case, buying in bulk is best as you can gently sift through the walnuts to pick the best ones. Yes, this will take longer, but it will make it easier to shave them later.
To shave the walnuts, set a truffle shaver to a fairly thin setting. The walnuts should be quite thin, but not so paper-thin that they fall apart and/or don’t have any texture to them. Alternatively, use a Microplane. Lay the walnut flat on the surface of the shaver and carefully, with your fingers on the very top, shave the walnuts into thin pieces.
Step 2: Making the Walnut Parmesan
- non-stick cooking spray
- 2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes
- sea salt, to taste*
- freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Once the walnuts are done, gently spread them out onto a baking sheet.
Spray the shaved walnuts with a light coating of non-stick spray and toss. Next, sprinkle the walnuts with the nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper and gently toss.
Taste for seasoning, keeping in mind that the parmesan is meant to be slightly salty.
Note: For added flavor and depth, a touch of truffle salt can be used as well.
This parmesan will keep for several weeks in the refrigerator.
Serve this parmesan with your favorite pasta, risotto, or even use it as a garnish for soups or anywhere you want to add a delicate, yet flavourful punch of parmesan.
Chef's Notes
While there are many vegan/plant-based recipes for parmesan on the web, this particular recipe is adapted from Tal Ronnen’s book Crossroads.
We use a truffle slicer with a good handle, which makes it harder to slip and cut yourself. It’s also just more ergonomic to use. And as a bonus, it clearly shaves more than just truffles.