We are almost Christmas and many of you will be asking the fateful question: "what we cook for Christmas Eve? And for the lunch on 25?”.
Also this year we at healthiergang.com come to your rescue by proposing you two exclusively vegan menus, dedicated to all those who for ethical and environmental reasons exclude meat and all its derivatives from their diet animals.
Unlike the other menus proposed to date, however, we suggest you some dishes based on typical products of our territories (better if at zero kilometers) that refer to ours regional culinary tradition. In fact, the dishes you will find in this section have been borrowed from grandma's classic recipe books, reworked in a vegan key, adding a touch of modernity to make them easier to prepare.
A way to celebrate a More eco-sustainable Christmas, which allows us to significantly reduce ours environmental footprint and thus celebrate in a more conscious way.
When shopping e choose the foods for your Christmas menu, in addition to the quality (better if organic) and the typicality (we recommend the products of your territory, better if purchased directly from the farmer), we recommend that you pay close attention to the portions, to avoid buying excess food inevitably destined to be thrown into the dustbin.
So, when buying the foods to cook, consider the exact number of people at the table: only a few will come to taste all the courses, most will give up much sooner! Therefore, avoid shopping for an army and try to recycle everything that is left over.
Index
Vegan menu for Christmas Eve dinner
Appetizer: Vegan Apulian Focaccia
Ingredients
- 250 g “00” flour
- 250 g re-milled durum wheat flour
- 250 g potatoes
- water
- 1 spoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of salt
- 1 yeast cube
For the dressing:
- 10 cherry tomatoes
- 10 black olives
- Origan
- oil
First of all, put the potatoes (with all the peel) in a pot of cold water, bring to a boil and cook for about 40 minutes - or until they are so soft that you can easily skewer them with a fork.
At this point, drain them, remove the peel, mash them with a fork (or a potato masher) until they become a homogeneous and smooth puree and leave to cool.
Then put the two flours in a fountain on the work surface, make a hole in the center and put the yeast in it, dissolving it with a little warm water; add the sugar and knead for a few minutes. Then add the mashed potatoes, knead for a few more minutes until you get a uniform and sticky dough.
Once this is done, oil a baking sheet well, lay the dough on it, level it well with your hands to even out the surface, cover it with a cloth and let it rise for about 3 hours in a warm and dry place.
After this time, heat the oven to 220 degrees; while waiting for it to reach temperature, stuff the focaccia: cut the cherry tomatoes in half and cover the entire surface of the dough, add the olives, oregano and a drizzle of oil.
Bake for about 30 minutes and before serving the steaming focaccia, add a little more oil.
This focaccia is not only good, but also comfortable, because you can serve it both hot and cold; so you can also prepare it the day before and serve it at the last moment!
Tuscany at the table: pappa al pomodoro
- 800 g of stale bread
- ripe tomatoes
- 50 g of basil
- 3 cloves of garlic
- oil
- sale
- pepper
Fry the garlic cloves in the oil, then add the diced tomatoes, mix well to flavor, add a pinch of salt and when the tomatoes are nice and soft, add the basil, a pinch of pepper, stir and cook for about 10 minutes. .
If the mixture dries too much, add a ladle of warm water (or vegetable broth), let it boil for another 10 minutes and then add the slices of stale bread cut into pieces.
Mix well to flavor the bread, let it cook for another few minutes, then remove the porridge from the heat and let it rest for about an hour (with the lid on), serve it with a drizzle of raw oil.
Sicilian fried panelle
- 200 grams of chickpea flour
- 500 g water
- sale
Melt 200 grams of chickpea flour, cold, in 500 g of salted water, mix well, making sure that there are no lumps, and add a little pepper; then put on the fire over a very low flame and stir constantly.
Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the dough starts to come off the sides of the pot, then quickly pour the chickpea mixture onto a smooth, wet surface (such as a marble or wooden table), roll it out with a knife and make it as thin as possible.
Let it cool and rest for a few minutes, then cut the cooled pasta into many rectangles. At this point, pour the seed oil in the fryer - or in a pan - and fry the panelle until golden.
Drain and serve!
Oven-baked battered pumpkin from Mantua
Ingredients- consider 80 g of pumpkin for each diner
- water
- flour
- beer
- sesamo
First of all, cut, peel and clean the pumpkin, then cut it into not too small cubes (they recommend 3cm by 3 cubes); then prepare a batter with 100 g of water, 100 g of beer and 150 g of flour, mix until the mixture is rather slow, but not liquid, and dip the pieces of pumpkin into it. Drain to remove excess batter, sprinkle with sesame seeds and fry until golden.
Drain on absorbent paper and serve hot!
Dessert: Vegan Panettone
To prepare the panettone at home - whether it is classic or vegan - it takes many hours, so if you decide to make this recipe, know that it takes about two days (because the dough has to rise for a long time); it is also important to work the dough and let it rise in a dry and warm place, away from drafts. Let's assume that it is not a simple operation, but once you have followed all the procedures to the letter, the result will be really satisfying!
For two panettone of about half a kilo:
- 400 g “00” flour
- 150 g of vegetable margarine
- 100 g sugar
- 70 g raisins
- about 90 g bread yeast (* 50 g flour, 40 g water, 6 g brewer's yeast in cubes)
- 3 banana
- sale
- seeds of a vanilla bean
- soya milk
- vegan chocolate chips
First of all prepare the yeast, combining 50 g flour, 40 g water, 6 g brewer's yeast in cubes, knead until you get a homogeneous mixture, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm and dry place for about two hours, or until the volume has doubled.
Then, sift 50 g of flour on the work surface, forming a small fountain, make a hole in the center and put the dissolved yeast (the one you have left to rise for two hours) with a little warm water, knead until you get a soft dough, put it in an oiled glass bowl, cover with a cloth and let it rise for about three hours.
After this time, put 50 g of flour on your work surface and repeat the same operation as before: take the leavened dough and place it in the center, melting it with a little warm water. Knead until you get a soft dough, put it in an oiled glass bowl, cover with a cloth and let it rise for about two hours.
Dissolve 100 g of margarine in a saucepan in a bain-marie and in another, dissolve all the sugar with a little warm water and mix until you get a thick syrup.
After the two hours of leavening of the dough, take it back, sift the remaining flour, and put the leavened dough in the center, always melting it with a little warm water, add the melted margarine, the sugar syrup, the 3 mashed bananas, the vanilla seeds and knead well, helping yourself with all the flour you have on the surface, until you get a uniform dough.
Knead for about 20 minutes: the dough you will get must be firm and elastic at the same time. At this point add the chocolate chips and raisins, knead again and divide the dough into two parts: each will be a panettone.
Cover your pan with parchment paper, place the two doughs on it, separating them well from each other (consider that during cooking each panettone will double its volume); preheat the oven to 220 degrees and then brush the surface of each panettone with soy milk.
Bake for ten minutes, then lower the temperature to 180 degrees and cook for another 15 minutes.
Serve cold and… Merry Christmas!
Read the vegan menu for Christmas lunch
The vegan Christmas lunch menu
Even the menu on December 25 - like that of Christmas Eve - is based on dishes inspired by the regional culinary tradition of our country, which we have revisited in a vegan and modern key, to satisfy all palates and the most diverse lifestyles.
Calabrian Zeppoline with tofu salami
Ingredients
- 400 of "0" or "1" flour
- 450 g of water
- 16 g of brewer's yeast (in cube)
- a glass of beer
- 1 pinch of salt
Combine the water, flour and yeast in a bowl, knead with your hands until the mixture is very soft, which sticks easily to your fingers, add a pinch of salt and knead again. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise for an hour. After this time, take the leavened dough and place it on the work surface, then heat the beer in a saucepan for a couple of minutes, pour it into a cold glass and dip your fingers in it, then divide the dough into many small, more or less regular balls. (with a diameter of about 4 cm), fry them in abundant seed oil - preferably in the deep fryer which guarantees an optimal temperature - then drain on absorbent paper.
Put all the donuts on a serving dish, accompanied by pieces of tofu salami.
Country rags from Viterbo Tuscia with vegan sausage
Ingredients
- 400 g flour
- 400 g of warm water
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 pinch of salt
- 4 g of yeast in cube
For the dressing
- 500 gr. of vegan sausage (400 g of legumes chosen from broad beans, beans and lentils + 100 g of white flour type 0 and 100 g of potato starch)
- 250 g peeled tomatoes
- extra virgin olive oil
- 1 onion
Start with the preparation of the dough: add the water, flour, yeast and make a soft dough, like that of pizza; oil a glass bowl and put the dough in it, cover with a cloth and let it rise for about 3 hours.
In the meantime, prepare the vegan sausage: put the legumes in the pressure cooker, add half an onion cut into slices, a drizzle of oil, a pinch of salt and cover everything with water (the water level must exceed the water level by two fingers. of legumes).
Cook for about 20 minutes from the start of the hiss of the valve, then let out all the steam and let it cool for a few minutes; then blend all the legumes, dissolve the flour 0 and the potato starch with a little water to make a cream and add it to the legume purée. Knead and make a long and narrow loaf, like a sausage. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, then cover a pan with parchment paper and cook for about 20 minutes.
Once cooked, let it cool completely, then cut it into small pieces like a normal sausage.
At this point, put some oil in a pan and sauté, add half an onion into slices and when it becomes golden add the pieces of sausage; cook for a few minutes, then add the peeled tomatoes, a few pinches of salt and cook over low heat.
After the three hours of leavening, take the dough and cut it into many pieces, put a pot with water on the fire and cook as if they were gnocchi: you can drain when the pieces of dough (rags) come to the surface.
Once the rags have been drained, dress them with the vegan sausage sauce you have prepared and serve.
Piedmontese tradition: the bread and vegetable pie
- 200 g of breadcrumbs soaked in soy milk
- 200 g of mixed lentils and beans
- 200 g of boiled vegetables (as desired)
- 100 g flour
- water
Put the lentils and beans in the pressure cooker, add half an onion cut into slices, a drizzle of oil, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and cover lightly with water.
Cook for about twenty minutes from when the valve of the pot starts to whistle; then blend everything and add the boiled vegetables; then dissolve the flour in a little water until you get a liquid mixture and add it to the legumes and vegetables. Add the wet breadcrumbs and mix until smooth. Put it in an oven mold (like that of the plum-cake) and cook in the oven for about 20 minutes.
Serve hot accompanied by mixed berries compote.
Campania side dish: potatoes stuffed with escarole
Ingredients
- Large potatoes (count one each)
- vegetable margarine (one cube for each potato)
- breadcrumbs
- tofu cheese
- escarole (or if you prefer, chard)
- garlic
- oil
- Chili pepper
First of all, boil the potatoes with all the peel, or - if you have a fireplace - wrap them in aluminum foil and let them cook under the ashes for an hour.
When they are soft - to be easily pierced with a fork - drain and let them cool for a few minutes; then cut them in two lengthwise, and with the knife dug out the pulp slowly, gently remove it from the peel without damaging it (leave a little pulp close to the peel) and mix it with the escarole sauce (the escarole must be sautéed in a pan with garlic, oil and chilli pepper and then pureed), margarine, breadcrumbs and tofu cheese into pieces, mix until you have a homogeneous mixture and recompose the potato filling it with the mixture just made. Go back to the oven and serve hot: the result will be curious and inviting and you can eat the potato with all the peel!
Panpepato from Umbria
Ingredients
- 200 g of walnuts
- 200 g almonds
- 200 g of hazelnuts
- 100 g of raisins
- 350 g of honey
- 200 of vegan chocolate
- 100 g of candied fruit
- 350 g flour
- 1 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1 pinch of nutmeg
- 1 pinch of cinnamon to taste
The recipe is very easy to carry out: chop all the dried fruit and the vegan chocolate, put everything in a large bowl and add candied fruit, raisins and spices,.
Separately, heat the honey in a saucepan and when it becomes liquid and sticky, add all the mince you have prepared.
Mix well and add - little by little - the sifted flour, stir constantly and before pouring more flour make sure that the one you have already put in the saucepan is well blended with the dough.
When you have mixed all the ingredients, until you have a homogeneous mixture, divide into 3-4 parts.
Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and cook at 180 degrees for about 15 minutes.
Once cooked, let it cool, cut into slices and serve!
Back to the Vegan menu for Christmas Eve dinner
Read the guide to the vegan menu for the holidays
