This Is the Savory Cashew Butter of My Dreams

I'm guessing you think this is just another cashew butter, like the kind you'll find spread on toast or swirled into a new-age yogurt parfait at your garden-variety all-day café. But I’m here to convince you that it’s not. It’s really, really not.

I tried this savory cashew butter for the first time when I headed to Portland, Maine, to cook with chef Ben Jackson of Drifters Wife, which this year took the #9 spot on our list of America's Best New Restaurants. At the restaurant, Jackson serves this cashew butter under tiny roasted fairy tale eggplants with pickled peppers.

This nut butter is nothing like the stuff you'll find in a jar, yet is simple to make. You start by cooking cashews in a little oil along with shallots and garlic until they get all golden brown and delicious. And then Jackson pulls a unexpected move: He adds fish sauce and lime juice and blends them until they are as smooth as tahini. What results is a supremely creamy, umami-rich cashew sauce. Grilled vegetables? They beg to be doused with this sauce. Roast chicken? Spread some of this underneath and tell me it’s not the best damn chicken you’ve ever tasted. It is also your newest cold noodle sauce, as well as the perfect alternative to standard tahini dressing.

To call this a nut butter is to minimize its real potential. It’s a dip, it’s a spread, it’s a dressing, it’s a sauce. Cashews can be expensive so yes, it’s a bit of an investment. But if you consider the heavy lifting a powerhouse sauce like this can do for everything from a bowl of plain grains to blanched veg, I think you’ll agree that it’s worth it.

Get the recipe:

Eggplant with Cashew Butter and Pickled Peppers