A very veggie Christmas feast: Recipe recommendations for the big day

(Or any other celebratory meal where you bother to change out of elasticated trousers.)

Wondering what to cook for your Designated Awkward Vegan (every family has one)? First Christmas as a vegetarian? Here comes your plant-based fairy godmother, sprinkling inspiration directly into your eyeballs. Buckle up, this one’s a little longer than usual.

First, thank you.

There are now more than 500 – almost 600 – of you signed up to this newsletter, which fills my shrivelled, cynical heart with joy. Thanks for being here. Together, we’re creating a fun little corner of the world where vegetarians, vegans and omnivores alike can wang on about vegetables. Why not forward this to a friend and get them to sign up, too?

Also, *clears throat* I’m in the December issue of delicious. magazine talking about the horror that is cooking in other people’s kitchens at Christmas. If you’re in the UK, do pick up a copy, flip to page 162, and loudly tell everyone in the vicinity, ‘I know her!’

Now, to business, starting with the Christmas dinner centrepiece.

My go-to secret weapon is a cauliflower cheese filo pie (pictured). This is such a genius, multipurpose dish: impressive centrepiece for any vegan/veggie guests AND a useful side for the meat-eaters. Trust me, everyone will want a slice. Follow this Ottolenghi recipe for curried cauliflower cheese pie, and just omit the curry powder. It’s that simple. If you need it to be vegan, replace the butter, cheese and milk in the sauce with dairy-free alternatives. I rate Naturli butter and Cathedral City plant cheese (or M&S Plant Kitchen cheddar, or Violife smoked cheddar). Use any unsweetened soy milk.

Alternatively – but still following the things-in-pastry theme – there’s Jamie Oliver’s m’hanncha (Moroccan filo snake pie); Georgina Hayden’s butternut squash borek (but dial down the spicy harissa for Christmas dinner); or these very festive beetroot and squash wellingtons on the Good Food site. I’ve made them all, and they’re all worthy of a place on your dinner table.

Want to forego the pastry (seeing as you’ll be eating 1,000 sausage rolls and mince pies)? Make some vegan stuffing balls and serve those as the ‘meaty’ element. No recipe necessary – it’s as simple as squishing up a packet of plant-based sausages (as in, sausages that mimic meat sausages), and adding stuffing-esque extras: breadcrumbs, herbs, caramelised onions (or caramelised onion chutney); chopped dried apricots, chestnuts, whatever you fancy. Roll into balls and bake until cooked through (probably 20–25 minutes depending on the size of your balls. Stop giggling at the back).

UK pals, Paxo sage and onion stuffing mix is vegan. Just saying.

I have to confess I’ve never made a nut roast. But if the mood struck, I’d make Felicity Cloake’s perfect nut roast. Because I’d trust Felicity Cloake with my life, not just Christmas dinner.

(Note: the nut roast uses one egg ‘or vegan substitute’. To make it vegan I’d use a few tablespoons of aquafaba. Or a tablespoon of ground flax seeds mixed with three tablespoons of water and left to thicken for 10 minutes.)

As for what I’m making this year… Now that I’m a Black Belt Vegan Jedi Master, I’m going to attempt this vegan turkey (seitan) roast, but with my own sausagemeat stuffing, as above. And yes, I know people get terribly upset about vegans and vegetarians eating stuff that replicates meat. (‘Why do you want it to look like meat? Why not just eat meat?’) But those people should a) mind their own business and b) remember that Christmas feasting is as much about the sandwiches as it is about the main meal. Which is why I’m craving something ‘meat-free but meaty’ this year. Something that can be sliced and slapped between thick bread, with tons of mayo and mustard.

A pep talk about side dishes…

Guys, let’s make a pact. Let’s all cook what we actually want to eat, not what we feel we should eat because it’s Christmas. If that means your only sides are roast spuds, roast parsnips, and some carrot and swede mash, go for it. That sounds great to me.

As

Ed Smith

(of Rocket and Squash) said in his recent post about Christmas sides, ‘Chill out. It’s just a roast.’ Wise words. He also counsels against putting an exciting twist on every single side dish. Keep your sides simple, and do them well.

With that in mind, we’ll be making tons of roast potatoes (no twist on them) and roast parsnips (with a slosh of maple syrup and red wine vinegar towards the end, something I saw Jamie Oliver do).

I’m also going to bake some steamed cauliflower and broccoli under a duvet of mildly cheesy, nutmeggy bechamel sauce, infused with onion and bay – a kind of cross between cauliflower cheese, bread sauce, and a vegetable gratin. If you’re new to making bechamel, this recipe will help. Again, use dairy-free milk and butter if you need to. I’ll be adding a handful of grated cheese to mine because, well, cauliflower.

That’s all the sides we’ll be making this year. Although I’ll probably add a forkful of pickled red cabbage from the fridge – recipe for that coming before Christmas – and some horseradish sauce (from a jar, obviously).

Basically, keep it simple with your sides and, wherever possible, make sides that work for everyone at the table. By which I mean use sunflower oil, olive oil or vegan butter in place of animal fats – I doubt anyone will taste the difference and it means everyone can eat everything. (Listen, I’ve been the person who insists on goose fat for roast potatoes but I can honestly say that there’s no need for all that faff. Sunflower oil does a brilliant job.)

As for gravy, if most of the people you’re feeding are meat-eaters and you only need a little veggie gravy, there’s no shame in buying some. But if you want to make it from scratch, I recommend Gaz Oakley’s best ever vegan gravy.

What about dessert?

Every year my mum buys me an apple and cider Christmas pudding (suitable for vegans and vegetarians) from Georgie Peorgie’s puddings, and every year I look forward to it. That said, we don’t tend to eat it on Christmas Day. It’ll either be eaten on Christmas Eve, in front of a movie, or at New Year, to draw a line under the festive feasting. The point is many Christmas puddings will be suitable for vegans and vegetarians, so shop around to find one that everyone can eat.

You’ll also find that plenty of supermarket mince pies are accidentally vegan. We’re talking cheapo mince pies here, the ones without ‘all-butter’ pastry. They may not be explicitly labelled as vegan, so do check the ingredients – milk, butter and eggs are allergens so they’ll be listed in bold. I’m rather fond of cheapo mince pies, although I’m sure the deliberately vegan ones are also good. I’ve never met a mince pie I didn’t like.

Last one on the dried fruit theme: Meera Sodha’s recent recipe for Christmas Dundee cake (vegan) looks fab.

If you want an easy, festive-adjacent cake, my sticky vegan ginger cake is always a winner. Or if you’re up for a more involved baking challenge, I reckon the BOSH! classic cherry Bakewell would go down a treat with some custard (see below about custard).

Cooking for a vegan (when you’re not vegan): 5 recipe recommendations

There will always be trifle.

I’m contractually obliged by my partner to make a trifle for Christmas Day. A proper working-class trifle of our childhoods, with jelly. I made a trifle every year before we went vegan, and I still make a trifle every year, just with some tweaks. (If you count our relationship in Christmas trifles, we are 18 trifles in.) He has, on occasion, asked for another trifle for his birthday, which is mere weeks after Christmas.

Trifle is such a perfect, generous dessert for a celebration. It looks impressive. It’s sweet, but relatively light. You can make it in advance. If you ask me – and my trifle-demanding partner – it’s the definitive Christmas dessert. And it’s surprisingly easy to veganise. Some tips:

• I’ve never managed to find vegan ladyfingers, but you can slice up a bog-standard vegan sponge cake for the base layer (shop-bought, or follow any vegan Victoria sponge recipe).

• If you have jelly in your trifle, you can make it with vegetarian jelly cubes or agar agar.

• For the custard layer, Birds custard powder is vegan. (Hey, I did say I like a proper working-class trifle.) Just choose your milk accordingly.

• And for the cream layer, use a whipable vegan cream. Or chill a couple of cans of coconut milk in the fridge for 24 hours, then discard the separated water and whip up the solid coconut cream with a little icing sugar.

• Sprinkle some shaved dark chocolate on top. I love the cold, crisp chocolate against the soft cream.

I hope all this helps you tackle Christmas with more confidence. Tell me in the comments what you’ll be making for Christmas. I could honestly talk about Christmas food all year.

What to eat this week: easy food, yeah?

This week we’re eating our way through a pot of potato and leek soup, and a huge vat of dal – both batch-cooked at the weekend because we’ve got busy days ahead, and if we didn’t batch-cook stuff it’d be beans on toast on repeat.

But once I’ve ploughed my way through all that, I’ve got my eye on this soy-butter bok choy pasta by Hetty Lui McKinnon. (Recipe is also in her book Tenderheart.) Don’t know about you but I struggle to eat enough greens over December and January. It gets easier in February and March, when the days get longer and the greens in the garden (and greenhouse) start growing again. But for now I rely on chucking frozen spinach in everything. Which gets a bit boring after a while. This pasta looks just the thing to get me out of my frozen spinach funk.

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