As a vegetarian, one of the questions I often get asked is: "what do you eat at Christmas?". People expect me to say something like "nut roast" or "fake turkey", and are suprised when I say "vegetarian saugages most years".
The truth is that I've tried a few different main courses for Christmas, so for this meal I have combined elements from my favourite Christmas dinners over the years to make the tastiest one yet. As a student, the Christmas holidays come early, so I'll be cooking this for my uni housemates as we celebrate our own Christmas before term finishes.
Although people may feel protective over their traditional lunch or dinner, exploring vegetarian alternatives can make a refreshing change (even if you're not a veggie).
And avoiding meat at Christmas is an eco-friendly option too. Rearing, slaughtering, packing and transporting meat can really damage the environment. By swapping your centerpiece for a meat-free option, you can still enjoy the flavours of Christmas, with a smaller carbon footprint.
The heart of the dish is thanksgiving stuffing, essentially a savoury bread and butter pudding. It is a fantastic winter comfort food: thick, crunchy and gooey.
To accompany this I have made parmesan roasted parsnips, which have a slightly nutty flavour, honey roasted carrots, with a touch of vinegar to balance the sweetness, steamed curly kale and The Best Gravy Ever.
(Feel free to add a big spoonful of cranberry sauce on the side.)
Cooking times
Here are the cooking times. The main elements can be prepared and cooked at around the same time, and you can make the gravy and steam the kale just before plating up.
Stuffing = 5 mins prep, 50 mins cook
Parsnips = 2 mins prep, 40 mins cook
Carrots = 5 mins prep, 45 mins cook
Gravy = 15 mins cook
Kale = 5-10 mins cook
The recipe
To prepare the stuffing, cut half of a french bread loaf in half and then into cubes.
In a frying pan melt some butter and gently cook a chopped onion and one chopped celery stick. While this is cooking, mix the french bread with two beaten eggs, a teaspoon of pepper, half a teaspoon of salt and half a teaspoon of dried sage.
When the celery and onions are soft, add them to the mixing bowl and slowly stir in 500ml of vegetable stock.
Pour this into a shallow roasting tin, cover with foil and cook for 45 minutes at 160 degrees.
Take the foil off the tin and then cook for another five to ten minutes to make the top crispy and golden.
Peel and chop the parsnips into equal-sized batons and boiled them for six minutes, to make them tender. After draining them, coat them in a mix of 100g of grated parmesan and five teaspoons of flour.
The next step is to heat a little bit of oil on a baking tray over the hob and place the coated parsnips on top. This is to make sure that the "batter" goes crispy, rather than going straight into the oven which can leave them a bit soggy.
After 30 minutes in the oven, they should be crispy and smelling awesome.
Honey roasted carrots
To make the honey roasted carrots, peel a large handful – I chose these Chantenay variety (they were only £1 in the supermarket for a large bag!). Drizzle in oil and toss in a shake of salt and pepper, then put them into the oven at 170 degrees.
After 30 minutes, bring them out to add a little shake of white wine vinegar and half a teaspoon of honey. Then pop them back in the oven for another 15 minutes.
The Best Gravy Ever
To make The Best Gravy Ever, you only need these ingredients: butter, flour, marmite, soy sauce, tomato puree, vegetable stock and hot water.
To start, you have to make a roux. You'll need equal amounts of butter and flour, ideally in a non-stick pan, over a medium heat.
The aim with this recipe is to keep stirring the mixture until it turns a light nutty brown colour so that all of the flour-flavour is cooked away.
At this stage the stock needs to be added, a little at a time. This makes the roux turn quite dough-like, but by adding the stock gradually, it will thin out.
Once the stock is finished, keep topping up the sauce with hot water, until it's a normal gravy consistency – thicker than water, but thin enough to pour off of a spoon.
Now it's time to add the flavour. In goes a large, heaped, teaspoon of tomato puree, a teaspoon of Marmite, and a teaspoon of soy sauce. Keeping the pan over a medium-low heat, stir in all of these ingredients in until smooth. (I then added another small teaspoonful of Marmite for a little extra flavour).
Finally, in a frying pan with a splash of water, steam a handful of curly kale for just over five minutes, with a lid on.
And then it's time to serve up – and maybe you can even persuade your flatmates to do the washing up.
Merry Meat-Free Christmas!
Melody Moxham blogs at Vegetastiness.com
Are you planning Christmas dinner with your uni housemates? Tweet us a picture @gdnstudents or share what you're eating in the comments below.
