“Have yourself a very veggie Christmas…”

Calling all herbivores … and omnivores who wish to forego the traditional bird!

A good entrée can be hard to find for a flesh-free Christmas. We felt, deep in our hearts, that the hard-working Tofurkey should be laid to rest this year, so we donned our muddy boots and sallied forth to spear a pumpkin or two.

Along the way we met chef Tony from Cornucopia, the mysterious Mrs Fletcher and Captain Finn von Hopsack, all of whom slipped us their favourite recipes for heart-warming, vegan Christmas dinners. If you are vegetarian, feel free to use butter and cream cheese where the option arises.

Without further ado, let’s pour a glass of flavanol-rich wine and get cooking!

A note on measurements

I am a big fan of American cup and spoon measurements. These are particularly useful in Ireland and the UK, where the time-honoured ‘tablespoon’ is a much larger object than the 15ml tablespoon used in recipes. Cup and spoon measurements are available from good kitchen supply and homeware shops.

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A huge thank you to chef Tony from Cornucopia, Dublin’s veggie haven on Wicklow Street, for the following recipe, which he created specially for the Hopsack blog! How’s that for Christmas spirit? 😀

Celeriac, leek and squash torte with onion gravy and gingered sprouts

Serves 4

For the base

• 1 celeriac, peeled and grated
• 1 small onion, peeled and thinly sliced
• 100g Brazil nuts, roasted and ground
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• Seasoning

Sweat the onion and garlic in a little oil until softened. Add the celeriac and sweat until softened. Add ground nuts and seasoning. Spread the mixture into a suitable, parchment-lined dish to serve 4. Bake for 5-8 minutes at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Allow to cool.

For the filling

• 2 medium leeks, washed and finely shredded
• 150g of grated creamed coconut, melted in a little hot water (if you are not vegan, you could use 150g of cream cheese instead)
• 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh dill
• Pinch of nutmeg
• Seasoning

Sweat leeks in a little oil. When softened, add creamed coconut, dill, nutmeg and seasoning. Spread this over the base.

For the topping

• ½ a butternut squash, peeled and grated
• 1 baking potato, peeled and grated
• ½ an onion
• Pinch each of cinnamon and cumin
• Seasoning

Sweat the onion until soft. Add the potato. Sweat for 3 minutes, stirring continuously over a low-medium heat to avoid the mixture sticking. Add squash and continue to stir for a further 3 minutes or so. The mixture should come together, bound by the release of potato starch. Spread this over the leek mixture. Bake in the oven at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for about 20 minutes until the top is nicely browned. Allow to cool before serving.

For the onion gravy

• 2 large onions, finely sliced
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Pinch of ground clove
• 1 glass vegan red wine
• 1 teaspoon brown sugar
• 50ml tamari
• Seasoning

Sweat the onions and garlic in a little oil until softened. Add the wine, thyme, sugar and clove. Leave to reduce, adding water if necessary. When the onion is completely softened, add the tamari and seasoning and blend to a smooth purée. Pass through a sieve and return to a saucepan to reheat before use.

For the gingered sprouts

• 200g sprouts, blanched in boiling water for 2 minutes and refreshed under cold water
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1 dessertspoon sunflower oil
• Good glug of tamari
• Thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 red chilli, de-seeded and finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced

Heat the sunflower oil in a pan. Add the sprouts and ginger. Sweat for 2 minutes before adding the garlic and chilli. Fry for another minute, stirring frequently. Add the sesame oil, tamari and seasoning.

To serve

Serve a wedge/slice of torte atop a ladle full of gravy with gingered sprouts on the side.

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We have yet to make contact with the mysterious Mrs Fletcher but her agent, Ella Bella, is a much-loved former member of staff who left our shores to cycle through clouds and returned to pass on this recipe. Our grateful thanks go to Mrs Fletcher for the following dish and to Ella for her kindly patience with the pastry-naive! 😀

Mrs Fletcher’s chestnut, butter bean and smoked tofu loaf

Serves 2

This recipe is adapted from ‘Sunday roast drumsticks’ in Vegan, by Tony Weston and Yvonne Bishop, a really great cookbook containing lots of interesting recipes. The red wine roux is from the wonderful Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

Ingredients

• 3 heaped tablespoons crumbled smoked tofu
• 3 tablespoons dry sage and onion stuffing mix
• 250g/8oz can chestnuts, drained and mashed
• 425g/14oz can butter beans, drained and mashed
• 1 dessertspoon Herbes de Provence
• Juice of ½ a lime
• 2 heaped tablespoons coconut oil (unscented is best, e.g. Barlean’s)
• Salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6.

Lightly oil a baking tray (or a baking sheet on a baking tray) and set aside for the moment.

Place all ingredients – except coconut oil – into a bowl. Gently melt the coconut oil and pour it into the dry ingredients, mixing well.

Mould the mixture into a loaf shape, or into smaller shapes, if you prefer.

Place the loaf/shapes on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes, turning once.

Serve with red wine roux (below).

This dish is also nice prepared as a Wellington, i.e. wrapped in pastry and baked.

Chestnut, butter bean and smoked tofu Wellington

Mix together the ingredients for the loaf (above) but do not cook it just yet.

For the pastry

• 330g (12oz) defrosted vegan puff pastry
• Soya milk for brushing

Lightly oil a baking tray.

Roll the pastry out on a lightly floured board to make a rectangle the size of a sheet of A4 paper.

Transfer the pastry to the lightly oiled baking tray and heap the chestnut mixture in the centre, forming it into a loaf shape.

Make diagonal cuts in the pastry 1cm apart on each side of the filling, then fold these up and over to make a plait effect. Tuck, trim and brush with soya milk.

Bake at 200°C/400°F/gas mark 6 until the pastry is puffed and golden brown. This should take about 30-40 minutes. Oven temps can vary, though (my oven is a fully fledged liar!), so keep an eye on it to make sure the pastry doesn’t burn.

Red wine roux

Makes 2 cups of sauce

Tips

This sauce will thicken a lot as it cools and may form a skin on top. Don’t worry. Just give it a good whisk and reheat it over a low flame.

For best results, try to mince the veggies as small as possible. Also, very dry wines taste best in this sauce.

Ingredients

• 1¼ cups boiling water
• 1 vegan vegetable bouillon cube
• 2 tablespoons nonhydrogenated vegan margarine
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 large shallots, minced finely
• ¼ cup celery, minced finely
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• ¾ cup dry vegan red wine
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
• ½ teaspoon dried thyme
• ½ teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbed between your fingers
• 2 tablespoons minced fresh chives

In a small saucepan, dissolve the bouillon cube in boiling water. Keep the broth warm on the lowest heat possible.

Melt the margarine in a separate small, heavy-bottomed saucepan and stir in the flour with a wooden spoon. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture is deep golden brown and smells toasty (approx. 6-8 minutes). Stir in the minced shallots and garlic, coating with the sauce, and continue to cook, stirring, for another 5 minutes; it will resemble a coarse paste. Stir in the celery and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes, until the celery has softened a little.

Pour in the hot veggie bouillon and stir with a wire whisk to create a thick sauce. Add the bay leaf, marjoram, thyme and rosemary. While stirring constantly, bring to the boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 2 minutes.

Gradually pour in the wine, continuing to stir with the whisk, and bring to the boil again. Lower the heat once more and simmer for 4 to 6 minutes, until slightly reduced and thickened. (The sauce is not as thick as a gravy but it will cling to the back of a metal spoon.)

Remove from the heat, stir in the chopped chives, and serve in a gravy boat.

To reheat the sauce

This sauce will become very thick if refrigerated but it reheats easily. Place the sauce in a small saucepan, heat over a medium-low heat while stirring occasionally, and whisk in a little vegetable broth until the desired consistency is achieved.

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Now, Cap’n Finn of the good shop Hopsack has confessed to having regaled his compadres with a luscious dish (beneath) – a brave admission, given that he had ‘forgotten’ to bring a doggy bag into the shop. He has since redeemed himself by sharing the formula for chef Peter Gordon‘s creation. So, Cap’n Finn, we thank ye most kindly! 😀

Roast pumpkin stuffed with wild mushrooms and hazelnuts

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 4 baby pumpkins, about 500g each (farmers’ markets are a great place to find gourds)
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 600g mixed wild mushrooms, cleaned thoroughly
• 60g nonhydrogenated vegan margarine (or butter, if you are not vegan – the original recipe calls for butter)
• 1 large white onion, diced
• 1 leek, sliced and well rinsed
• 2 teaspoon mixed fresh herbs
• 60g hazelnuts, roasted, skins removed and roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. If the bases of the pumpkins are not level, carefully trim them. Cut the tops off the pumpkins, holding your knife at a 45° angle to the work surface, and reserve them to be used as ‘lids’ later. Scoop out the seeds and discard them (or keep them for future roasting!). Mix the garlic with the olive oil and a little salt, then brush this on the inside base of the pumpkins.

Separate the mushrooms into two groups: large and dense and thin and delicate. Slice the larger ones into chunks.

Heat half the vegan margarine (or butter) in a wide pan and when it begins to sizzle, add the onion and cook over a moderate heat, stirring often, until caramelised to a good deep golden colour. Then add the leek and cook until just wilted. (Note: the original recipe calls for butter. When caramelising, you might not achieve quite the same colour, etc. using vegan margarine.)

Add half the mushrooms (start with the denser ones) and cook over a moderate heat until they wilt. Tip into a bowl and cook the rest in the remaining vegan butter until they wilt. Mix together with the herbs and hazelnuts and season well.

Spoon the mixture into the hollowed-out pumpkins and place their ‘lids’ back on. Put into a roasting dish, adding 1cm of hot water to the dish. Bake until you can insert a skewer through the pumpkin flesh into the centre (around 70 minutes).

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Enfin, follow this link for a little treat 😉

We wish you a Merry Veggie Christmas and a Happy New Year! 😀 And bon appétit!