A Very Gravy Christmas
VEGAN GRAVY
Prep time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Servings: 6
Author: Amanda Logan
INGREDIENTS
1 Large brown onion chopped
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Carrots chopped in to small cubes
1 Rib of celery chopped
1 Garlic clove smashed, skin left on
1 1/2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 Cup 60ml good red wine
2 Teaspoons Marmite/Vegemite
A sprig of fresh thyme and a 2-3 sage leaves chopped
250ml Vegetable stock
125ml Water
Sea salt
A Small splash of apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS
- To make the vegan gravy, heat the oil in a heavy based pot or pan on medium heat and add the chopped onion, celery and carrot. Sauté for around five minutes or until the onion is tender and beginning to brown at the edges a little. Add the smashed garlic.
- Stir in the flour and cook for two minutes. Add the red wine to deglaze the pan and then add the Marmite. The mixture with be a little gluey, don't worry, it's normal. Add the fresh herbs.
- Stir in the vegetable stock and water and continuing cooking for a further few minutes, stirring regularly, until the gravy thickens.
- Add the butter and turn the heat to low. Cook for a further three minutes.
- Remove from the heat and add a splash of apple cider vinegar and season well with salt and pepper.
- Allow the gravy to sit for around 10 minutes to continue infusing the flavours before straining in to a gravy jug. If the gravy is too thick, add a splash of water to thin. Return to the pan to warm if needed before serving.
MAPLE ROASTED CARROTS WITH CANBERRIES
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 20 minutes
Total time: 35 minutes
Servings: 4
Author: Lazy Cat Kitchen
INGREDIENTS
100g Cranberries, fresh
1 Garlic clove
3 Of thyme or lemon thyme, springs
1/2 Orange, zest of large
500g Young carrots, medium
3 Teaspoons harissa paste
60ml Maple syrup
Baking & spices
1 Black pepper
1/2 Teaspoons salt
Oils & vinegars
30ml Olive oil
Nuts & seeds
20g Almond flakes
INSTRUCTIONS
- Set the oven to 170° C / 340° F fan forced (or 190° C / 375° F no fan) and line one large baking tray (or two smaller ones) with baking paper.
- Trim the green tops off the carrots (you can make pesto out of them or add them to soups) and cut carrots into halves lengthwise.
- Coat cranberries in 1 tbsp of maple syrup and mix in orange zest.
- In a separate bowl, combine olive oil, 3 tbsp maple syrup, harissa paste, thyme leaves (about 1 tbsp), garlic, salt and a good pinch of black pepper.
- Coat dry carrots in the maple and harissa mixture (keep any leftovers) and space them out on a large baking tray,. If you have a large tray, place cranberries at the other end, if not use two separate trays.
- Roast for about 20-25 minutes, until carrots are tender and the exterior slightly caramelized and cranberries are soft and jammy. If cranberries are done sooner, remove them from the tray with a spatula and set aside. If you have any leftover carrot marinade, apply it with a brush again half way through the baking time.
- Toast almonds lightly in a hot pan until lightly browned and fragrant.
- Place roasted carrots and cranberries on a large serving platter. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and fresh thyme or finely chopped carrot tops (but go easy on them as they taste bitter).
VEGAN MINCE PIES WITH A RICH HOME-MADE FILLING
Prep time: 55 minutes
Cook time: 25 minutes
Total time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: 12
Author: Veronica Stenberg Elegantly Vegan
INGREDIENTS (FILLING)
200ml Cranberries (frozen)
200ml Chopped walnuts
⅓ Cup sultanas
150ml Single malt whiskey
4 Tablespoon dark muscovado sugar
1 Piece orange, juiced
1 Piece apple, peeled and grated
25g Vegan butter
2 Tablespoon cinnamon powder
1 Teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 Teaspoon ginger powder
INGREDIENTS (PASTRY)
250g Vegan butter
1.5 Cups flour
8 Tablespoons almond flour
5 Tablespoons brown sugar
2-3 Tablespoons cold water
1.5 Tablespoons cinnamon powder
A pinch of salt (optional)
Powdered sugar
INSTRUCTIONS
- Add whiskey, orange juice, grated apple and sultanas to a pot. Let soak for about 10-15 minutes. Add the pot to the stove and turn on the heat on the plate.
- Add walnuts, sugar, cranberries, cinnamon, ginger and clove. Once the filling start to boil, lower the heat and let the filling simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes, stir occasionally.
- Once the fruit and berries have merged, add the vegan butter and let it melt out with the filling. Let cook together for another 5-10 minutes on very low heat.
- Once the filling is ready you can store it in a sterilized jar in the fridge - if it’s not used straight away.
- Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and almond flour in a large bowl.
- Slice up the vegan butter in cubes and work in piece by piece in with the other ingredients in the bowl.
- Add a splash of cold water half way through adding the butter and work into the dough. Continue to add butter until you have worked in the fat with the flour to an even and firm dough.
- Let the dough rest for an hour or so in the fridge before use.
- Once the dough has rested and is firm enough, bake it out on a clean surface with a rolling pin with some extra flour.
- Create pie shells, add to a muffin tray.
- Add the filling and then create the lids for the pies.
- Seal the pies so that the lid is combined with the bottom of the pie.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven, 200 C for 15 - 25 minutes until lightly golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and dust powdered sugar on top.
MUSHROOM WELLINGTON
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 50 minutes
Total time: 1 hour
Servings: 4
Author: Deliciously Everyday
INGREDIENTS (GINGER BREAD)
4 Large portabello mushrooms stalks trimmed and cleaned
3 Large onions peeled and chopped
3 Tablespoons olive oil
300g Baby spinach
4 Sprigs of thyme leaves picked
1 Vegan puff pastry
1 Tablespoons dijon mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tablespoon aquafaba (chickpea water)
1 Tablespoon almond or cashew milk
1 tsp neutral flavoured oil
1/2 Teaspoons maple syrup or brown rice syrup
INSTRUCTIONS
Place a large frying pan over a low to medium-low heat. Add the 1 /2 tbs of olive oil followed by onion and reduce heat to low. Season with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are golden brown. Keep an eye on the onions to make sure they don't catch.
Remove the onions from the pan and return the pan to the heat. Add the baby spinach and cook until wilted. Remove from the baby spinach from the pan and leave to cool.
Increase the heat to medium/high and return the pan to the heat. Add the remaining olive oil and place the mushrooms, top side down. Cook until lightly golden (about 5 minutes) before turning over and cooking for a further 5 minutes or until golden. Remove from the heat, and drain on paper towel top side up as they will release a lot of liquid as they cool. Transfer the onions, spinach and mushrooms to the refrigerator and cool completely.
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit). Place a sheet of baking paper on the baking tray and then place the puff pastry sheet on top. Spread half the caramelised onions over the middle third of the pastry, making sure to leave an extra 2cm (3/4 inch) border at the edge of the pastry. Top with half of the baby spinach. Spread the dijon mustard over the mushrooms and season well with salt and pepper. Place the mushrooms on top of the spinach. Top the mushrooms with thyme and the remaining baby spinach and onions.
Very carefully roll the pastry over the top of the mushroom mixture until you have a log. Press down to seal the edges. Roll over the log so that the seam is facing the bottom.
To make the vegan egg wash whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Very lightly coat with the vegan egg wash. Place the pastry in the freezer for 10 minutes before repeating with another layer of vegan egg wash and freezing the pastry for a further 10 minutes.
Place the pastry back on the baking sheet and tray and place in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden and flakey.
VEGAN GINGER BREAD COOKIES
Prep time: 30 minutes
Cook time: 10 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes
Servings: 60 medium cookies
Author: Lazy Cat Kitchen
INGREDIENTS (GINGER BREAD)
105g Softened refined coconut oil (I use this one)
105g Dark brown sugar
3 Tablespoons reduced aquafaba
½ Cup maple syrup or molasses
330g All purpose flour
¾ Teaspoons baking soda
3 Level teaspoons ground ginger
3 Level teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ Teaspoons ground all spice
¾ Teaspoons ground cloves
¼ Teaspoons fine sea salt
INGREDIENTS (ICING)
1-2 Cups icing sugar
Matcha powder, for green colour (optional)
Beetroot juice, for pink colour (optional)
Very finely chopped pistachios (optional)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place coconut oil in a small pot and melt it on the lowest setting. Let it cool down a little bit.
- Sift the flour into a medium size bowl. Add baking soda, all the spices and salt. Mix really well.
- Place melted coconut oil, dark brown sugar and reduced aquafaba in a large bowl. Cream them together with an electric whisk until well combined and slightly thickened. Add maple syrup and whisk some more until you get a homogeneous mixture.
- Fold 1/3 of the flour mix into the wet ingredients and, once combined, add the remaining two thirds, one by one. Make sure there are no flour pockets and everything is well combined but do not knead. The dough will be quite loose and sticky, that’s fine, it’s the way it should be. Divide the dough roughly into 2 portions and wrap each in a piece of cling film (glad wrap). Place them in the fridge for at least 1 hour. You can safely keep it in the fridge overnight too.
- Before you are about to take the dough out of the fridge, set the oven to 175° C / 350° F and line two baking trays with a piece of baking paper.
- After resting, take the first portion of the dough out of the fridge. Give it a few minutes to bring it to room temperature. Roll it out (gently pressing with a rolling pin) on a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out quite thick (about 5 mm / 0.2 inch) and cut the cookies out of it with cookie cutters. If you want the cookies to be crunchy, roll them out a bit thinner and bake them for longer.
- Arrange the cookies on the prepared baking trays. You don’t need to leave a lot of space between them as they don’t expand much. Group similar size cookies together so that they cook in the same time. Bake small cookies for about 7-9 minutes and larger for 10-12 minutes. The longer you bake them for the crispier (and less soft and chewy) they will turn out so adjust baking time to your preference.
- To make the icing, mix icing sugar with a very small amount of water (added very gradually) until you obtain a thick sugar paste. I used beetroot juice (squeezed with my hand from 1 coarsely grated beetroot) instead of water to make pink icing and a touch of matcha powder (and water) to make green icing. If you want to do that divide the icing sugar between 3 bowls and treat each portion accordingly.
- Place your icing into a small plastic or pastry bag. Push it all into one corner and cut a tiny bit off that corner with a pair of scissors. Start with a small hole and make it bigger if necessary. Apply the icing by squeezing the icing through the hole.