Savory vegetarIan holiday dishes – Omaha World
Holiday meals tailored to vegetarians don’t have to be boring or devoid of color.
COURTESY PHOTO BY MAREN CARUSO
Published Wednesday December 7, 2011
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Blogger Sarah-Mai Miller’s favorite holiday dish is her mom’s chestnut stuffing.
But it doesn’t come stuffed inside a turkey. It comes topped with a savory crust of puff pastry.
Miller has been a vegetarian since she was 3 years old. She lived in Omaha for a year and started her blog, eatpure.blogspot.com, while living here.
A year ago, she transitioned to veganism, omitting dairy products and eggs in addition to meat and other animal products from her diet. Her parents are vegan, too, and her mom is a chef who runs a vegan restaurant in Ohio.
“When mom presents the stuffing with the puff pastry and serves it with gravy, it becomes much more than a side,” Miller said. “It becomes a main course.”
For many years at the holidays, vegan and vegetarian diners became familiar with the phrase “eating the sides.” Lots of home cooks relied on old-fashioned standards such as turkey as a main course. But today, a wide variety of recipes and pre-prepared vegan and vegetarian dishes mean it’s easy to serve a meatless main on Christmas Day.
Kelsi Swanson, the manager of Open Harvest, a natural food cooperative in Lincoln, said questions from shoppers about meatless meals are becoming more common.
“A lot of people come in and they’re in a panic,” Swanson said. “They have out-of-town friends or family coming who are vegetarian and they have no idea what to make or buy.”
Swanson said Open Harvest sells popular pre-packaged items like Tofurkeys — a substitute for turkey made with tofu — and Field Roasts, a roast made out of grain. The store also makes many vegetarian and vegan items from scratch in its deli.
Mike Dowty, the store’s assistant deli manager, has been a vegetarian for 20 years and just recently started eating meat again. He said Open Harvest’s vegan turkey is made with seitan, a meat substitute made of wheat gluten, and is seasoned with poultry seasoning and rosemary, among other traditional flavors.
At his own Christmas celebrations, Dowty said, he likes to make things like sweet and savory yams and spinach and squash lasagna. The yams — savory and Creole-roasted — also are sold at the Open Harvest deli, he said.
Liz Turner, editor in chief of Vegetarian Times magazine, said she thinks home cooks are simply more aware that vegan and vegetarian dishes are out there.
“There have always been recipes for yummy lasagna and meatless casseroles,” Turner said. “I think people are going back and remaking those traditional things in a vegetarian way.”
Turner said a recipe for Vegetables Wellington Redux in the magazine’s December issue is a good example.
The recipe takes the traditional Beef Wellington — a roast wrapped in puff pastry — and substitutes a melange of vegetables and a tomato pesto sauce for the meat.
“It really makes for a special, delicate main dish,” she said. “It very easily rivals the awesomeness of old-fashioned Beef Wellington.”
Puff pastry, she said, is a good ingredient for vegans because even the pre-packaged pastry is vegan.
Each year the magazine features a few vegetarian and vegan holiday favorites, including versions of vegetarian shepherd’s pie and meatless lasagna.
“If it’s more of a labor-intensive dish, that makes it feel special,” she said.
Holiday flavors also don’t have to be traditional to be popular. The winner of Vegetarian Times’ 2011 reader recipe contest, sweet potato and black bean enchiladas, would work as a holiday main dish.
“It’s a natural for the Christmas table,” she said.
Both Turner and Miller said they rely on tweaking family favorites for holiday meals.
“Almost any recipe you have can be made vegetarian or vegan,” Turner said. “It’s surprisingly easy to adjust them and have them still taste great.”
Miller said she often searches for vegetarian recipes and then converts a few ingredients to make the recipe vegan. Widely available ingredients like vegan sour cream, cream cheese and butter make it even easier.
She said she also tries to plan ahead when she’s invited to a potluck or holiday meal.
“I like to bring something vegan and not tell anyone it’s vegan,” she said, chuckling. “Then when they say how amazing it is, I tell them. It changes the preconceived notion that vegan equals bad.”
Miller, who now splits her time between Chicago and New York City, reviews vegan and vegetarian restaurants in the two cities. While she was living in Omaha, she wrote about some restaurants here, including Blue Sushi and the now-closed Daily Grub.
When Miller posted her mom’s stuffing recipe on her blog, she got a huge response.
“I tell my friends about it, and they all make it,” she said. “It’s amazing to me every day when I see how many vegetarian and vegan options there are now.”
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