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Vegan Chef Shares Secrets To Successful Holiday Feast, Recipes Included

Vegan Christmas
http://recipes.millionhearts.hhs.gov/

The holidays can be stressful for anyone planning on cooking a Christmas feast, but especially for those who are trying to cook for their vegan, vegetarian or gluten-free friends and family.

Chef Ian Brandt is the owner of some of Utah’s most beloved vegetarian-friendly restaurants including Sages Café, Vertical Diner and Cali’s Natural Foods in Salt Lake City.

While Brandt said he himself takes a break from cooking and parties during the holidays, he said he’s seen the stress that comes with trying to get a meal to turn out just right. His advice: develop a cookbook of your own.

“The number one thing I could advise anyone in terms of reducing stress levels when you're preparing family meals or holiday meals, is the development of a family recipe book that is extremely specific in all of its measurements-- in all of its weight measurements and its volume measurements. Everything is written to detail. That becomes a really great thing that you can pass down to the next generation and the next generation can add to that recipe book and make adjustments to it and turn it into their own recipe book."

Brandt said winging a recipe probably isn’t the best way to make cooking less stressful, especially for vegan faire.

"If you are going to replicate a recipe and make it wonderful and stress-free, then the key is to have it organized in a certain way and styled in a certain way so it's replicatable. Especially within vegan cuisine, a lot of times you're trying to almost use some really great use of chemistry in food to make food have the similar qualites of non-vegan cuisine."

Brandt shared a one-of-a-kind tried and true vegan stuffing recipe with me that features mushrooms and walnuts.

"I think the mushroom and the walnut part, I think it makes this dish almost move beyond stuffing a little bit. It's almost a meal in itself.”

The dish calls for seven-grain bread and starts with sautéed diced onions, carrots, celery, olive oil, black pepper and sea salt.

"I always put the sea salt in first so it integrates into everything. Especially when you're sweating the onion and vegetables, the sea salt draws the moisture out of those vegetables and dries them out a little bit. And that really extracts the flavor out of those vegetables."

Next the recipe calls for the mushrooms and walnuts.

“Toward the end of that sauté process I'll add the mushrooms and also a little bit towards the end of that chopped walnuts, so the walnuts get a bit toasted in the oil and the vegetables in the pan."

Brandt said it is best to de-glaze with a white wine to unstick the flavors from the pan.

“And then toss into that a little bit of stock or water. I tend to build my recipes with a large quantity of what is considered mirepoix ingredients which are onions, carrots, celery, those kinds of ingredients, instead of using soup stock, I just go a little heavier with the actual vegetable components that go into the dish.”

Next, he said to toss in a pre-toasted combination of seven-grain and French breads.

“And then form that in your pan and bake it. I usually cover that with a little bit of aluminum foil for the first half an hour or 20 minutes and then for the last 10 minutes take the foil off which then kind-of gives the top a little bit of crispiness which everyone likes in stuffing. And that's basically it.”

Read below for full stuffing recipe and two additional vegan recipes from Brandt.

Holiday Stuffing Recipe

(Makes 9x13 pan)

Ingredients:

  • Baguette, Vosen’s 7-grain    1 full loaf
  • Mushroom, sliced                   3 cups
  • Walnut, chopped                     2 cups
  • Dried fruit, small pieces      ½ cup
  • Onion, diced                              1 cup
  • Carrot, diced                             1 cup
  • Celery, diced                             1 cup
  • Olive oil                                     ¼ cup
  • White wine                               ¼ cup
  • Sage, fresh, minced               2 Tablespoons
  • Garlic, minced                         2 Tablespoons
  • Salt, Real salt                           2 teaspoons
  • Black Pepper                           1 teaspoon
  • Water                                         2 cups

In Oven at 375 degrees:

Cube the baguette of bread into ½-inch by ½-inch cubes and then toast on a cookie sheet till light brown.

In a medium sauce pan:

  • Sauté mushroom, onion, carrot, celery, and garlic with the olive oil and sea salt.
  • Half of the way through the sauté above, add the walnuts.
  • When these ingredients are cooked thoroughly, and the walnuts are brown, deglaze with white wine.
  • Add dried fruit, fresh sage, water and fresh ground black pepper. (Green apple and or Anjou pear can also be used instead of the dried fruit.  If you are to use fresh fruit then use 1 to 1 ½ cups and a ½ of a cup less water)
  • When the dried fruit has plumped up, add the toasted bread pieces and stir well.
  • Take the stuffing and place into a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish and bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and the stuffing is hot all of the way through.
  • Serve with gravy.

Gluten-Free Gravy

Ingredients:

  • Celery, minced                                 ¼ cup
  • Carrot, minced                                ¼ cup
  • Onion, diced                                     ¼ cup                                     
  • Garlic, minced                                 1 Tablespoon            
  • Nutritional yeast                            1/3 cup           
  • Thyme, dry leaf                              ½ teaspoon
  • Rosemary, dry powder               ½ teaspoon
  • Sage, dry, rubbed                          ½ teaspoon    
  • Chili powder, salt-free                ½ teaspoon
  • Salt                                                      1-2 teaspoons                        
  • Flour, white rice                            ½ cup                         
  • Vegetable oil, choice of              ¼ cup             
  • White wine                                      ½ cup
  • Soup stock or water                     4 cups                        
  • Tamari or soy sauce                     3 Tablespoons            
  • Tahini                                                 2 Tablespoons                

In a medium sauce pan:

Saute onion, carrot, celery with oil, salt and chili powder.  When the onions are half way cooked through add garlic, flour, nutritional yeast.  Stir well as the ingredients may stick to the bottom of pan.  When the ingredients are well mixed and lightly browned add the white wine to deglaze the pan.  After the pan has been deglazed, add the spices, soup stock, tamari and tahini.  Slowly bring the gravy up to a simmer while whisking. 

Serve this gravy with stuffing, potatoes and many dishes.

Carrot Cake Muffins with Walnut Crumble

Makes 24, Serves 6-8

Dry:

  • Flour, unbleached             3 ½ cups
  • Sugar                                      2 cups
  • Cornstarch                           1 Tablespoon
  • Cinnamon                             2 tsp
  • Baking soda                          2 tsp
  • Salt                                          1  teaspoon

Wet:

  • Carrot, shredded                3 cups
  • Water                                      1 ¾ cup
  • Oil, non-gmo canola          1 cup
  • Currants or raisins             ¾ cup
  • Vinegar                                   1 ½ Tablespoons       
  • Vanilla extract                     1 Tablespoon 

Crumble:

  • Walnuts, chopped fine       ½  cup
  • All-purpose flour                  ½ cup
  • Sugar                                         ½ cup             
  • Organic Palm Shortening  ¼ cup
  • Salt                                             1 teaspoon

To Prepare:

  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, sift all dry ingredients.  Then mix in the wet ingredients.  Then place the batter evenly in each muffin cup making 24 muffins.
  • Place a Tablespoon of the crumble on top of each muffin.
  • Bake for 15 minutes or until lightly browned.