These days, vegan dishes have gone mainstream. Publications like Consumer Reports and the Journal of the American Medical Association credit plant-heavy diets with decreasing the risk of type 2 diabetes, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and some cancers, as well as fighting obesity.
But how do you bring these health benefits into holiday meals? And should you? Aren’t holidays supposed to be fun?
We reached out to top chefs and cookbook authors around the country for some of their most popular dishes. Served together, these recipes will make a delicious, healthful holiday meal. Or pick one as a side dish to supplement a more traditional holiday meal. Whether you have a vegetarian guest or you’re concerned about your family’s health, all your company will benefit from boosting their diet with more vegetables and plant-based proteins. Even at Thanksgiving dinner.
Appetizer: Cafe Flora Lentil Pecan Pate
Executive chef Janine Doran whips up this pate at Cafe Flora, which has been feeding Seattle’s vegetarians for 25 years.
Ingredients
- 1 cup red lentils
- 2 cups water
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon dried sage
- 2 tablespoon mirin
- 1 teaspoon umeboshi paste
- 1 tablespoon light miso
- 1/2 cup pecan pieces, toasted
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Preparation
- Put rinsed lentils in a pot with the water and bay leaf. Boil over medium heat, lower the heat and simmer, covered, until lentils are very soft and most of the water has been absorbed, 15 to 20 minutes, adding more water if necessary. Remove the bay leaf. Set aside to cool.
- While lentils cook, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, and cook until it has reduced in volume and begun to soften, about 5 minutes, stirring once or twice.
- Turn heat to low, cook onion for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. If onion starts to stick, add 1 or 2 tablespoons water (or cooking sherry), and stir to remove bits of onion from the bottom of the pan. When done, the onion should be brown, soft and sweet.
- To onion, add garlic, thyme and sage. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat. Set aside to cool.
- Put lentils and onion mixture in food processor. Add all remaining ingredients. Process until mixture is a smooth paste. Transfer to bowl, cover and chill before serving.
- Serve with olives, cornichons, crackers or crostini.
Side Dish or Vegetarian Main: Cauliflower 65
Chefs Rich Landau and Kate Jacoby own Philadelphia’s Vedge, often called the top vegan restaurant in America. This veg take on a popular Indian street food comes from their new cookbook, V Street.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup ketchup
- 1/4 cup sriracha
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoonrice wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup vegan mayo
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon curry powder
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
- Canola oil for frying
- 1 cup cornstarch
- 3 cups cauliflower florets
Preparation
- Combine the ketchup, sriracha, ginger, cilantro, rice wine vinegar, mayo, curry powder, cumin, salt, and cayenne in a medium bowl. Whisk together until smooth.
- Preheat a fryer to 375°F or heat 1/2 inch of the oil in a skillet or large saucepan over high heat. Add the cornstarch to a medium mixing bowl for dredging.
- Line a plate with paper towels and set aside. Dunk the cauliflower florets in the sauce, then dredge in the cornstarch, making sure that each piece is evenly coated in liquid and dry ingredients. Transfer to a sheet pan and repeat with the remaining florets.
- Fry the florets immediately in small batches until golden brown, about 2 minutes, depending on their size. Remove from the fryer and transfer to the paper towel–lined plate to absorb any excess oil, then serve
- Serve over rice as a main course.
Side/Vegetarian Main: Quinoa and Vegetables
This recipe comes from The Platt-Rodriguez family, owners of Andina in Portland, Oregon, one of the top Peruvian restaurants in the country.
Ingredients for Quinoa and Vegetable Mix
- 2 ounces red quinoa
- 6 ounces white quinoa
- 4 ounces sliced and de-seeded cucumber
- 1 avocado
- 1 small tomato, diced
- 1/4 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1/4 ounce chopped fresh mint
- 1/4 ounce chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 ounce fresh cilantro
- Ingredients For Salad Garnish
- 1/4 ounce small rocoto pepper, diced
- 1/4 ounce ají amarillo pepper
- 1 ounce cotija cheese, cut into small cubes
- 1/2 ounce red onion, julienne
- 1 ounce cooked yellow corn
- salt and pepper to taste
Preparation
- Cook red quinoa in boiling salted water for 12 minutes. Strain and set aside in a large bowl and cool it
- Cook white quinoa in boiling salted water for 10 minutes. Strain and add this to the large bowl and cool it.
- Add to the quinoa mix, diced avocado, half of the sliced cucumber, half of the tomato, the extra virgin olive oil, half the lime juice, and all of the herbs. Mix well and season with salt and pepper.
- To plate: Put the mixture of quinoa and vegetable in a mold, pressing a little, filling 2/3 of the mold.
- Combine the remaining ingredients, (half of the cucumbers, half of the tomatoes, rocoto, aji amarillo, red onion, yellow corn, cotija cheese, and half of the lime juice) mix well and season with salt and pepper. Put the salad as garnish on top of the quinoa mix, filling the final third of the mold.
- Take out the mold carefully, and spread chive oil around the quinoa (optional) or decorate the dish with avocado slices.
Dessert: Chocolate Pecan Pie
Pastry chef Fran Costigan is known as “the queen of vegan desserts.” This recipe comes from her book Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy Free Desserts.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup brown rice syrup, warmed in the jar until liquid
- 1 cup pure maple syrup, Grade B or dark amber
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed and strained lemon juice
- 3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 tablespoons smooth cashew butter
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon Dutch-process cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 tablespoons almond milk, soymilk, or coconut milk beverage
- 2 1/2 ounces dark chocolate (66 to 70%), finely chopped
- 3 1/2 cups slow-roasted pecans, cooled
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 pie crust, cooled
Preparation
- Make the filling. Pour the rice syrup and the maple syrup into a large heavy-bottomed saucepan with high sides. Bring the syrups to a boil over medium heat, stirring with a long silicone spatula. Syrups expand and climb the sides; be careful to avoid a boil-over mess on your stovetop or a serious burn. Reduce the heat to low, but expect the syrups to continue to bubble. Adjust the heat as needed so that small bubbles rise to the surface almost continuously. Boil slowly for 6 minutes.
- Add the lemon juice and then the salt. The syrups will bubble furiously when the salt is added, so be careful. Simmer on the lowest heat for 1 minute. Adjust the heat as needed and cook at a low boil for 8 minutes.
- Put the cashew butter into a small heatproof bowl. Add 1/4 cup / 60 ml of the hot syrup mixture to the nut butter and stir vigorously until combined. Repeat with another 2 tablespoons / 30 ml of the hot syrup mixture. Set aside the now-tempered nut butter.
- Whisk half of the cocoa powder into the remaining hot syrup until dis- solved and then whisk in the other half until dissolved. Adjust the heat so that the mixture boils very gently for 6 minutes.
- Position the oven racks so one rack is in the lowest third and the other is in the top third of the oven; preheat to 425°F / 220°C.
- Whisk half of the tempered nut butter into the syrup. The mixture may appear curdled but will become smooth as you whisk. Repeat with the rest of the tempered nut butter.
- Add the nondairy milk and simmer 5 minutes. Add the chopped chocolate. Wait a minute for the chocolate to melt. Add the nuts and stir with a silicone spatula until the spatula is coated.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and almond extracts. Pour the filling into a heatproof shallow dish and cool on the counter for about 10 minutes, or until it is barely warm. Don’t refrigerate the filling or it will become too thick to spread into the crust.
- Place the pre-baked crust on a baking sheet to make moving the pie in and out of the oven easy. The bottom of the pie crust will set fastest on a dark sheet.
- Spoon the filling into the crust. Spread the filling with a small offset spatula or spoon. Make sure the pecans are distributed evenly.
- Bake the pie on the lower oven rack for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 400°F and move the baking sheet to the upper rack. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and set it on a wire rack. Wait 10 minutes before moving the pie pan directly onto a wire rack.
Serving
- Cool for at least 2 hours before serving. Slice and serve the pie at room temperature.