This blogpost also is available in German.
CHRISTMAS, one week ahead of us! Are you ready? Tree decorated check, bake all the cookies check, bought all the gifts & wrapped them checked, Christmas dinner menu check! Wait, oh shoot! Forgot to plan what to cook on Christmas? No problem, I got it covered for you. With this three course menu nobody will starve at your place during the holidays. And guess what? Not only are the dishes super easy to prepare and very delicious, but also they are all completely vegan!
If you’re ready let‘s go through the different courses. As always you can find the printable recipes down below, so in case you are just looking for a particular dish or you don‘t like reading too much, just jump right at the end of this post.
Starter:
How about vegan salmon toasts as a starter? As far as I can think back my parents and I used to eat smoked salmon toasties on the 24th. Trouble starts when someone in the family turns vegan *lol*. At least I thought so until I saw somebody on YouTube veganizing that dish last March. Frantically I went searching for liquid smoke – THE main ingredient – but couldn’t find it anywhere. At one point I forgot about vegan salmon, but just a few weeks back I saw it re-appearing on social media again. The mission was born and luckily this time I found some liquid smoke. Which is why here I represent you my vegan salmon toasts, which literally tastes like salmon for reals! On the other hand the carrots need to be prepared like a day or two in advance, keep that in mind.
Main Course:
We keep it traditional for the main course as well. On the menu are kale salad with pomegranate and radishes, mashed potatoes with a mushroom stroganoff, roasted brussel sprouts and fried pimientos de padrón. Your guests won‘t even know where to start with all these yummy goodies. On top of that I‘m going to tell you a little secret… Salad, stroganoff and brussel sprouts can easily be prepared in advance. Of course whenever possible serve everything fresh directly out of the kitchen, but if not there‘s nothing wrong with doing a little bit of prep the day before. Just don‘t do it for the pimientos and the mashed potatoes! Mashed potatoes should always be prepared right before serving and the pimientos will turn soggy if you prepare them too early.
Dessert:
Your guests might be so full they probably won‘t even have space for dessert, but in case they do, you‘ll have something up your sleeve with these mini chocolate tartelettes topped off with mulled wine poached pears. As you can see yet again we keep it very traditional and christmasy in terms of the flavor arrays. Aren‘t chocolate and mulled wine perfect for Christmas? You can prepare this dessert in advance as well, actually I would highly recommend that. Especially the pears, as they will need some time to be soaked in the mulled wine in order to absorb all the spices. But let me assure you it‘s so worth it! I‘ve never eaten a dessert that tasted so much like Christmas as these mini tartelettes!
So far about introducing the Christmas dinner menu to you guys. Hopefully you like and give it a try next week! In case you do, let me know how the menu resonated with your guests. I‘m always eager to get feedback on the recipes I provide for you.
Have fun and enjoy the last minute planning,
Sarah
Vegan Salmon Toasts
Ingredients
- 3 carrots organic
- 1 tsp rock salt organic
- 2 tbsp flaxseed oil organic
- 2 tbsp liquid smoke
- 2 tsp lemon juice organic
- 20 slices toast bread organic
- 200 g vegan ricotta or horseradish mousse organic
- 1 onion organic
- 1 glass pickled capers organic
Instructions
- Peel carrots and steam them for 15 up to 20 minutes. They should be cooked but not too soft. Let them cool down.
- Thinly slice the carrots using a sharp knife or a broad peeler.
- Mix rock salt, flaxseed oil, liquid smoke and lemon juice together in a closable jar or container. Add carrot slices mix well, close and put in the fridge for at least 24 hours up until 48 hours. Make sure to turn and shake the container/jar from time to time to make sure every carrot slice is covered.
- Toast the bread slices using a toaster. Spread some vegan ricotta or horseradish mousse onto the toasted slices. Lay carrot slices on top and arrange them like smoked salmon.
- Peel onion and cut into rings. Drape some of them on every toastie and add some capers as well. Serve right away.
Roasted Brussel Sprouts with Cranberries
Ingredients
- 500 g brussel sprouts organic
- 2 tbsp canola oil organic
- 1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar organic
- 1 tbsp maple syrup organic
- 3 handful dried cranberries organic
- a pinch of rock salt organic
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 200 degrees Celsius.
- Carefully remove a small part of the brussel sprout stems, cut them in half and rinse them off.
- Put brussel sprout halves in a bowl and add all the remaining ingredients. Mix well and pour the them onto a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Put in the oven and roast for 30 up to 40 minutes until the brussel sprouts start to turn slightly brownish.
Pimientos de Padron
Ingredients
- 200 g pimientos de padron
- 2 tbsp olive oil organic
- 1 tsp rock salt organic
Instructions
- Pour olive oil in a hot pan and heat.
- Rinse off pimientos de padron and add them to the pan with the hot oil. Fry them for about 5 to ten minutes, just until the start browning and shrinking a little bit.
- Serve immediately and sprinkle on some salt just before you serve them.
Mashed Potatoes with Mushroom Stroganoff
Ingredients
Mashed Potatoes
- 1 kg waxy potatoes organic
- 1 tsp salt organic
- 50 g vegan margarine
- 300 ml rice milk
- a pinch of ground nutmeg
- salt to taste organic
Mushroom Stroganoff
- 25 g vegan margarine
- 1 onion organic
- 2 tbsp flour organic
- 100 ml red wine organic
- 300 ml vegetable stock organic
- 100 ml soy cream
- salt & black pepper to taste organic
- 125 g pearl champignons organic
- 150 g pleurotus organic
Instructions
Mashed Potatoes
- Peal the potatoes, put them in a pan and cover with water. Add salt, put the lid on the pan and cook the potatoes for 40 minutes. They should be super soft and easy to mash with a fork. Whilst you cook the potatoes you can prepare the Stroganoff.
- Mash the potatoes with a fork.
- Melt margarine in the same pan you cooked the potatoes, add the mash and rice milk, cook on very low temperature whilst constantly whisking.
- Season with ground nutmeg and add some salt if you feel it`s lacking. Serve right away with the Stroganoff.
Mushroom Stroganoff
- Melt margarine in a pan.
- Peel onion, finely chop it and add it to the melted margarine. Sautée until they turn translucent. Now you add the flour and mix the margarine and flour very well until the flour turns yellow in color.
- Deglaze with red wine, add vegetable stock and soy cream and bring to a boil. Season with salt and black pepper to your taste and reduce the heat to low temperature.
- Rinse off mushrooms and add them to the sauce. Cover the sauce and let simmer for about 10 minutes. Then remove the lid and cook for another 10 minutes on very low heat.
- Serve together with the mashed potatoes.
Kale Salad with Pomegranate & Radishes
Ingredients
- 250 g kale organic
- 1 pomegranate organic
- 1 bunch of radishes organic
- 3 tbsp raspberry vinegar organic
- 2 tbsp canola oil organic
- salt & black pepper, to taste organic
Instructions
- Rinse off the kale & radishes. Coarsely chop kale and slice radishes.
- Cut pomegranate into quarters. Fill a bowl with water and put the pomegranate quarters into the water, remove the seeds. The seeds will sink down and the leftover skin of the pomegranate will float on top. Remove that skin and use a sieve to pour off the water and catch all the pomegranate seeds.
- Put kale in a bowl and sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds and radish slices.
- Mix together raspberry vinegar, canola oil, salt and black pepper and pour the dressing over your salad right before serving it.
Mini Chocolate Tartelettes with Poached Mulled Wine Pears
Ingredients
- 2 pears organic
- 400 ml red wine organic
- 2 tbsp mulled wine spice organic
- 100 g walnuts organic
- 4 dates organic
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder organic
- 3 tbsp water
- 100 g dark vegan chocolate organic
- 120 ml soy cream
- 1 tbsp coconut oil organic
Instructions
- Peel the pears, put them in a pan and pour over the red wine. Add mulled wine spice. Cover the pan and let simmer on low temperatur for about 20 up to 30 minutes. Make sure to turn the pears from time to time. In the meantime you can prepare the bottom of the tartelettes.
- Put poached pears into an airtight container together with the remaining red wine and mulled wine spice. Close the container and put in the fridge for about 12 hours. Make sure to turn the pears from time to time.
- Preheat the oven at 180° degree Celsius.
- Add walnuts, deseeded dates, cocoa powder and water into a food processor. Mix until you got a batter that sticks together. Put that dough into your mini tartelettes baking forms using your fingers, making sure they cover the whole baking form completely.
- Put the mini tartelettes baking forms into the oven and bake for 8 up to 10 minutes. Take them out, let cool down and remove the baking forms.
- Heat soy cream and coconut oil in a pan. Break dark chocolate into pieces and pour hot soy coconut mixture over the chocolate. Stir until the whole chocolate melts. Then pour your ganache into your tartelettes. Let the ganache harden.
- Take the pears out of the fridge, halve and slice them. Put one half onto every tartelettes.