For a while now, I’ve been hearing about nutritional yeast. Since going “mostly paleo” my husband and I have basically eliminated dairy. While I no longer miss the cream in my coffee, or having yogurt and fruit for breakfast, I do miss cheese – because cheese is awesome. While I hate the way it makes me feel, cheese is decadent and delicious – and I have definitely started to miss it. I’ve read on a few blogs that nutritional yeast is not only a great source of vitamin B, but also a pretty good cheese flavored substitute – so I decided to give it a try and order some from Amazon. When it arrived, I was flummoxed. It was a yellowy powder, that smelled vaguely like Parmesan. I had no idea what to do with it. Some blogs suggested sprinkling it on veggies for flavor, but I didn’t think that would really satisfy my gooey-cheese cravings. After some intense Google-ing, and tasting, I figured out that I might be able to use the nutritional yeast to make a cheese sauce of sorts. Potato Au Gratin seemed like an obvious choice.
I used the nutritional yeast to make a roux of sorts, and layered that with thin medallions of sweet potato, sauteed leeks, onions and pancetta. What came out was… delicious. It didn’t have the gooey texture of a typical gratin, but it was wonderful. I served it to my husband and my mother-in-law for dinner, and they both had seconds. While I’m still not a nutritional yeast ninja, this is certainly making me excited to try some more recipes out!
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