AutumnWinter en

Christmas dinner [vegan]

“My idea of Christmas, whether old-fashioned or modern, is very simple: loving others. Come to think of it, why do we have to wait for Christmas to do that?” — Bob Hope

Sadly, humans are quite funny, when it comes to loving others, they often do need those special occasions to act per their feelings and not let stress and others turn them in those grumpy looking and acting muppets. But it’s finally here: the month of Christmas.
Last year I didn’t felt anything like Christmassy until Christmas day, but this year I'm beyond ready for Christmas. My house is full of fairy lights, candles are everywhere, I did the annual biscuit baking and my first ever vegan advent calendar is waiting for me. In a nutshell: Let December begin! 🎄

Nevertheless, with the festive season coming, the festive food comes too and the rather traditional holiday feasts are not overly veggie friendly and your beloved omnivores might be like: But it’s Christmas, do you not eat meat etc. for special occasions like this? But you eat fish for Christmas, don’t you?! And no, I don't, because I'm happy with my diet and especially Christmas -for me- is about loving others. But why should I limited my love to curtain groups? I deeply love my family, friends and my cat is the most precious thing in my life and I love the planet we live on and I can't not make the connection between the piece of roast on my plate and the ridiculously intelligent pig, that should not have died for my pure amusement. No, I want my Christmas to be a happy place filled with joy and love for others and myself.

I'm personally gifted with an amazing and supportive family, who will make a vegan/ vegetarian options for me, however, chances are huge I'll end up with roasted veggies and potatoes. Don’t get me wrong, I love veggies and potatoes but I love having fancy meals for days like this. That's when my haunt for a special Christmas dinner, which everyone can enjoy started and I'll be perfectly honest with you, I wasn't too overwhelmed by the options. There were quite a lot of recipes out there, but not proper dinners and as it's quite a tradition in my family, to have a three-course meal on days like this, I was determined to create a three course Christmas dinner. I wanted to create a dinner, which can be enjoyed by everyone and that will not end up with one spending the whole Christmas day in the kitchen, but gives you lots of time for the important things, like family, talks and presents.

In the end of this post, you’ll find a little timetable, which you might find useful for an even more relaxed Christmas day.

I hope you like the recipes and that you'll find some inspiration for your animal and human friendly Christmas dinner.

Btw, this month is another very special month, so there will be two recipes, the other, obviously, Christmas related, recipe will be up the week before Christmas!

So, let's get into the Christmas spirit, put the Christmas music on and let's start cooking:

Today's pieces of happiness:

Starter: Salad tower with lamb's lettuce and caramelised pecans

All you need: (serves 4-6 people)

Salad tower:

2 cooked beetroots

1 mango

1 avocado

200 gr. lamb's lettuce

a little bit of pomegranate to sprinkle on the "tower"

Vinaigrette:

3 tbsp white wine vinegar

3 tbsp very good olive oil

2 tbsp agave syrup

2 tbsp Dijon mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Pecans:

200 gr. pecans

1 tbsp margarine

1 tbsp brown sugar

1. Step: Pecan time

Put the margarine in the pan and add the sugar when the margarine is dissolved. Add the pecans when the sugar is dissolved and caramelise them for a little bit (2-3 min).

2. Step: Vinaigrette time

Mix all the vinaigrette ingredients together.

3. Step: Tower time
Slice the avocado, mango and beetroots into small pieces and place the mango, avocado and beetroot pieces in separated bowls. Divide the vinaigrette (apart from ~2 tbsp) evenly between the bowls, stir it and let's start building the tower:
Therefore you take a ring mold (or something like this) and the serving plate. Place the ring on the plate. Start off with the beetroot, put 1/4 of the beetroot chunks in the ring and pat it down a little. Put 1/4 of the avocado on top, tap it down a little and then finally put 1/4 of the mango on top of it, pat it down and then: let's pray a little and hope for the best, because now you'll take the ring of. Repeat the whole process three more times (or until you have done all the portions you wanted to make).

Now you only put a little bit of lamb's lettuce on top of your tower, sprinkle it with the leftover vinaigrette and the pomegranate.

Main: Puff pastry roast with plum-red cabbage, potato coins and gravy

All you need: (serves 4-6 people)

Red cabbage:

1 red cabbage (finely chopped strips)
2 onions (diced)

150 gr. prunes (halved)

250 ml red wine
150 ml apple juice
100 ml balsamic vinegar

3 tsp salt

3 tsp pepper

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp margarine

1 bay leaf

Gravy:

2 onions (chopped)
2 carrots (chopped)
1 garlic clove (pressed)

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

25 gr. dried porcini mushrooms (slightly crushed)

2 tbsp red wine

2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp tomato purée

1,5 litre vegetable stock

Puff pastry roast:

1 puff pastry

2 onions (finely diced)
3 garlic cloves (pressed)
150 gr. mushrooms (finely chopped)

150 gr. carrots (finely chopped)
100 gr. red lentils (cooked)
100 gr. quinoa (cooked)
100 gr. walnuts (crushed)
100 gr. dried apricots (finely chopped)

3 tbsp tomato purée

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 tbsp chili sauce

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp smoked paprika

salt and pepper to taste

Potato coins:

1 kg potato (peeled, diced and cooked)

2 tsp margarine

a little splash of almond milk

nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste

1. Step: Red cabbage time

Preheat your oven to 150°C. Put the margarine in an ovenproof roasting tin and add the onions, sauté them a little. Afterwards add the sugars and when the sugar dissolved a little, add the cabbage, prunes, wine, apple juice, balsamic vinegar, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring it to the boil, then transfer the tin to the oven and let it cook for 1 1/2 hours with a closed lid.

2. Step: Gravy time

Fry the onions, carrots, mushrooms and bay leaves for approx. 20 minutes. Add the wine and simmer for five minutes. Throw in the flour, the tomato purée, the vinegar and the stock simmer it for another 10 minutes and, last but not least, you puree it.

3. Step: Puff pastry roast time
Fry the mushrooms, carrots and onions. Throw all the ingredients together and season it to taste. Preheat your oven to 180 °C. Now to the more fun part:

If you are aiming for the design I made you, you'll put your filling on the middle third of your pastry. Next you slice the other (outer) thirds like you can see in the picture above. There will be some leftover bits, which I made into little leaves.

Next up, you'll only have to bake the roast for 20 minutes at 180°C.

4. Step: Potato coin time

Preheat your oven to 180°C.
Take your cooked potatoes, mash them, add the margarine and if it is a little too stiff also a splash of almond milk. Next season the mash to taste, I used some nutmeg, salt and pepper to keep it quite traditional. Put your mash in a pipping bag and (if you have one) pipe the mash on to a macaron mat, if you have no such thing it should hold its shape also without it, but just make sure it isn't anything like runny (maybe add a little bit of food starch if it's to runny).

Bake the potatoes for 20 minutes at 180°C.

Dessert: Chocolate mousse with mulled-wine cherries

All you need: (serves 4-6 people)

Mulled-wine cherries:

300 ml. red wine + 1 cinnamon stick + 1 star anise + 5 whole cloves + zest of half an orange

400 gr. Morello cherries

3 tbsp of the Morello cherries juice

3 tbsp food starch

2 tbsp sugar

Chocolate mousse:

400 ml full fat coconut milk

200 gr. almonds

200 gr. dark chocolate

50 gr. cocoa powder

2 tsp Mixed spice

1. Step: Mulled-wine cherries
Put the cloves in a little cotton bag (tea bags). If you don't have one, it's not the end, but happy cloves hunting in the end. Put the red wine, the cloves, the cinnamon stick, the yest and the star anise in a pot and let it simmer for 20 minutes. Next you mix the cherry juice and the starch, stir it until you have one even paste. Put this to the wine, as well as the cherries and the sugar. Let it simmer for another ~10 minutes, or until it thickened a little. Set the pan aside, until you're ready to serve the dessert and heat it up right before you put it on the mousse.

2. Step: Chocolate Mousse
This is, more or less, the chocolate mousse which I already have up on my blog, so for more precise instructions, head over there,
First, ground the almonds until you have almond butter.
Second, bring the coconut to the boil and then "drown" the chocolate chunks in the milk and don't touch it for about two minutes.

After two minutes, stir it and the chocolate should be melted by now. Put the chocolate milk, the almond butter, the mixed spices and the cocoa powder together, mix it and off you go. Fill it into the glasses you want to serve it in (keep in mind that you need some more space for the cherries) and let it chill in the fridge for about 2 hours. However, it tends to get quite hard, so for a more mousse-like texture put it out fridge 15 minutes before serving.

Here we go, I'm delighted to tell you: you have done it! Now go on and enjoy your self-made piece of happiness ♥
Here's a little time table for you, if you want to have a little guide for a rather stressless Christmas day:

I wish you a love and joy filled Christmas time. And don't forget just before Christmas there will be another little piece of happiness, I hope you step by 😊

But for now, have a beloved Advent season and:

Do not forget: Happiness can be delicious, so go on and spread some feliciousness ❤️

Love, Miss Felicious XXX