What is nutritional yeast?
Nutritional yeast is made from a single-celled organism, which is cultivated on molasses and then harvested, washed and dried with heat to kill or “deactivate” it. Because it’s inactive, it doesn’t have any leavening abilities like baking yeast does. Its name is not very alluring – however, it lends a salty, full-bodied taste to all it touches. The best way to describe its flavour is that of Parmesan. What’s more, it’s vegan-friendly and gluten free, so appeals to many alternative diets. It adds a lovely, flavourful hit to veggies and is available at Dis-Chem, faithful-to-nature.co.za and most health stores.
Words, Recipe and Styling by Claire Ferrandi
Photograph by Dylan Swart
Broccolini with crispy fried capers, rustic croutons and goat's cheese
Ingredients
- 230g broccolini
- olive oil, to drizzle
- 1 wholewheat roll, broken into chunks
- salt, to taste
- nutritional yeast, to sprinkle
- 100g log goat’s cheese, broken into chunks
- deep-fried capers, to serve
- coriander leaves, to garnish
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Place the broccolini in a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the preheated oven until the broccolini is cooked, but still crunchy, about 20 minutes.
Place the chunks of wholewheat bread in a roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil. Season with salt to taste. Roast in the same oven as the broccolini, until the bread is toasted and golden, about 10 – 15 minutes.
To assemble, place the broccolini on a serving dish and sprinkle with the nutritional yeast (it’s salty, so go easy). Top the broccolini with the wholewheat croutons, chunks of goat’s cheese, deep-fried capers, and coriander leaves.
Imka Webb is a freelance digital marketing expert and the digital editor of Food & Home Entertaining magazine. www.imkawebb.com
