Thanksgiving: Vegetarian Options

Turkey is arguably the food most synonymous with Thanksgiving, but there are many who give thanks without it each year.

There are many reasons for not having turkey at a Thanksgiving meal, but perhaps the most common is vegetarianism. It is, however, still possible to do Thanksgiving without turkey, or even any meat.

In fact, it’s quite easy.

“The reason it’s so easy to do a vegetarian Thanksgiving is that the meal itself is pretty much all vegetarian already,” said Piermont’s Phyllis Segura, who owns her personal cooking company Cooking on the River. “Really, the only meat most people have is the turkey.”

She said because so much of the meal is vegetables, all it needs to be completely vegetarian is a main dish. There are plenty of non-meat options for main dishes. A popular ingredient in vegetarian main dishes is mushrooms, and Segura has a few mushroom-based dishes she thinks would go well with a Thanksgiving meal.

One dish she suggested is a mushroom pate and another is a mushroom, bleu cheese and fennel galette, which is an open type of pie. The recipes for both of those dishes, and many others, can be found on Cooking on the River’s blog, which you can get to by clicking here.

Another popular main dish is squash stuffed with quinoa, which Segura said is high in protein and will work nicely as a main dish instead of turkey.

“You’ll be able to get the protein you want with the squash,” she said. “The only difference is it might not make people as sleepy because it doesn’t have tryptophan, like turkey. You’ll have to sprinkle some magic dust on them if you want them to go to sleep afterwards or something.”

But the main dish isn’t the only item on the menu you can play around with for a healthy and vegetarian Thanksgiving.

“The beautiful thing about being a vegetarian around Thanksgiving is we have an abundance of great seasonal food, like squash,” Diane Hoch, owner of the Food Evolution, a nutrition and cooking center based in Nanuet. “We’re going into winter months and have all this season food, like root vegetables, and the fact that you can mix those with beans and legumes, you can mix those for a table full of color and nutrition.”

Hoch said you can make things like sweet pea casserole or chickpeas and lentils for healthy options on Thanksgiving that are full of protein. Hoch even likes to take the seasonal foods, like squash and pumpkin, and empty out their centers.

“In terms of being festive and looking like the holidays, I love to take squash or even small sugar pumpkins and fill them with soup or chili,” she said.

Some soup and a salad is a great way to start off a healthy vegetarian Thanksgiving meal, Hoch said, adding that a nice main dish can be vegetarian chili with a number of different ingredients, like beans, lentils, quinoa, tomatoes and more. Then you can serve that in the squashes, as well, Hoch said.

On the side, you can still have your traditional sides, Hoch said.

What makes for good seasonal sides are roasted root vegetables, which Hoch said are fun to experiment with by roasting and seeing which you enjoy. But even then, a vegetarian Thanksgiving doesn’t have to stray too far from what most people think of when they think Thanksgiving.

“You don’t want to take tradition out of your meal. You’re still eating cranberries and greens,” she said. “But it’s all good. Vegetarians can still eat apple pie.”

Some recipes from Segura and Hoch:

Segura’s POTATO AND MUSHROOM GRATIN:

• 4 Portobello mushrooms, cleaned, stems and outer peel removed
• 1 pound Cremini mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed
• ½ ounce dried mushrooms
• 8 potatoes, Russets or Yukon Gold, well scrubbed
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 3-4 ounces Blue Cheese
• 2-1/2 cups heavy cream or half and half
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2-3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• ½ ounce Parmigiano cheese, grated
• Flour
• Breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Put the dried mushrooms into a small bowl with boiling water and let sit to rehydrate, then drain and chop them.
2. Slice the Portobello and Cremini mushrooms. Using a frying pan, heat the olive oil and add the mushrooms to sauté until their liquid is gone.
3. Peel, then thin slice the potatoes about 1/8-inch thick using a mandoline or a sharp knife. Place them in water to cover until ready to use then drain well.
4. Prepare a gratin dish by smearing butter all over the inside surfaces. Layer one third of the potatoes on the bottom, sprinkle with about a teaspoon of flour (Wondra flour works well) between the layers, small pieces of butter, salt and pepper, dried thyme, and half the mushrooms; then repeat and end with a layer of potatoes.
5. Mix the blue cheese and cream together until smooth, then pour the mixture on top slowly, letting it sink in. Sprinkle with Parmigiano and cover with breadcrumbs and a few more small pieces of butter.
6. Bake about 40-50 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned. Serve hot.

 

Segura’s EASY CHEESE APPETIZER

• 1 log of plain goat cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons heavy cream
• ½ teaspoon z’atar and/ or fresh thyme, oregano, marjoram
• Extra-virgin olive oil

1. Place the goat cheese, heavy cream and herbs into a food processor and blend until smooth. In a ceramic serving bowl place a sprinkling of the fresh herbs on the bottom.
2. Scrape out the goat cheese mixture and smooth the top with a spoon. Sprinkle some more z’atar (or smoky paprika) and fresh herbs on top and drizzle with your best extra-virgin olive oil. Serve with a crusty bread and/or raw vegetables.

Hoch’ s Vegetarian Chili

• 1 large onion
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 cups cooked chick peas
• 2 cups green indigo lentils
• 1 cup pinto beans
• 1 cup black beans
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 8 cloves minced fresh garlic
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• ½ teaspoons black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 14½  ounce can diced tomatoes
• 1 can tomato paste
• 1 cup frozen corn
• 10 cups Vegetable Stock

1. In medium saucepan sauté onions until clear in color
2. Stir in minced garlic, chili powder, pepper and cumin until well combined.
3. Add beans, lentils, quinoa, and diced tomatoes with juices, tomato paste, veggie broth and corn and mix gently.
4. Transfer chili to crock pot and cook 1 hour on high.
5. Serve hot from the crock pot on a cool fall day and enjoy!

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Vegetarian, Raw and Vegan with Bill & Sheila