This vegetarian Christmas dinner recipe is very rich but simple to make, and can be frozen up to three to four weeks in advance or made two or three days beforehand and chilled, and then cooked to be piping hot on Christmas Day.
Having this dish prepared in advance will take the worry out of catering for vegetarian guests, and is one of the tastiest vegetarian alternatives for Christmas dinner for those who, for whatever reason, do not eat meat. Do check with vegetarian guests that they eat free range eggs.
A Vegetarian Christmas Dinner Needs Chestnuts!
Chestnuts can either be bought in their shells, or to save time they can be bought tinned. Fresh chestnuts do taste better and have a better texture, particularly if the chestnuts are roasted rather than being boiled to remove their shells and skins.
Roasting Chestnuts
Score a cross into each shell with a sharp knife and place on a baking tray in the middle of the oven at 200 deg C / 400 deg F / Gas Mark 6 and roast for 15-20 minutes until the crosses in the chestnuts have opened up. Roast them for too long and the papery inner layer will be more difficult to remove. Cutting the shells allows steam to escape during the cooking process to stop them exploding into bits in the oven.
Boiling Chestnuts
Place in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Take them out one by one and peel the shells and inner skins off while they are still hot, otherwise once they cool they will be harder to peel.
Dried Chestnuts
Place in a bowl, pour boiling water over them and soak for two hours, then simmer in water on a low heat for 90 minutes until they are tender.
When lining the loaf tin, grease the inside with dairy-free soya margarine or a little sesame or walnut oil. Cut two strips of greaseproof / silica paper: one wide enough to fit in widthways with 3" overlap on each side, and one long enough to fit lengthways with 4" overlap at each end.
Chestnut, Sage and Brandy Loaf Recipe
Ingredients
- 1lb / 4 cups / 500g shelled sweet chestnuts
- 2 tsps / 1/3 oz / 10mls sesame oil
- 2 cloves garlic finely chopped
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 1 medium size free-range egg, well beaten
- 1/4 pint / 4oz / 120mls water
- 2 tbsps / 1oz / 30mls soya milk
- 2oz / 1 cup / 50g fresh wholemeal or granary breadcrumbs
- 1oz / 0.6 cups / 3g coarsely chopped sage (salvia officinalis)
- 1 tbsp / 1/2oz / 15mls brandy (optional)
- Salt and pepper to taste, depending on diet restrictions
- A few whole sage leaves for decoration
Method
- Coarsely grind the chestnuts until they resemble medium size gravel. Alternatively, put the chestnuts in a plastic bag, cover with a teacloth and roll them firmly with a rolling pin. The chunkier the better.
- Sweat the onion and garlic in the sesame oil on a low heat for 10 minutes. Stir or shake the pan occasionally and don't allow the onion and garlic to burn.
- Remove onion and garlic from the heat and tip into a mixing bowl. Add the crushed chestnuts, breadcrumbs and chopped sage. Mix well.
- Whisk the water, milk and beaten egg together and add to the chestnut mixture in the bowl. Mix thoroughly and season to taste.
- Add the brandy (optional, as there may be guests who do not take alcohol) and mix well.
- In the bottom of a greaseproof /silica paper-lined loaf tin place a decorative design of whole sage leaves. Tip the chestnut mixture in carefully so as not to disturb the sage leaves, using a fork to fill the corners and smooth the top.
- Fold over the flaps of the greaseproof/silica paper to cover the loaf. Either use aluminum/silver foil to cover the top, or place a rectangle of greaseproof/silica paper 3" larger on all sides than the top of the loaf tin, fold the paper over on itself all the way round the top edge and twist the final fold on itself to secure.
- When cooking the loaf, either put in the oven at 180 deg C / 350 deg F / Gas Mark 4 for 40minutes in the middle of the oven, or slide the loaf out onto a microwaveable plate, removing any aluminum foil, and cook for 12 minutes on full power. If oven cooking, take the foil/paper lid off for the last ten minutes, and if microwaving, defrost thoroughly first. Peel off the greaseproof/silica paper, check the sage leaf decoration and serve.
The loaf can serve four people with two slices each, or two people with hungry beast appetites. Serve it with all the traditional Christmas fixings and trimmings. Cranberry jelly brings out the flavour beautifully, as does a rich and delicious plum chutney.
Some Vegetarians Prefer Soya Milk
This is available in practically all high street shops / grocery stores these days. Buy a litre carton so that there is enough to make soya custard for vegetarian trifles or to provide milk for coffee and tea.
Useful Tips for Vegetarian Cooking
Utensils that touch or serve meat or meat products should not be used to touch or serve vegetarian food.
For vegetarian gravy, simply mix one up using vegetable stock or vegetable water and some meatless gravy powder rather than use meat juices.
If vegetables are being served around the main meat dish, reserve some in a separate dish for vegetarian guests.
Preparing vegetarian alternatives for Christmas is not at all difficult and just needs a little forethought in terms of vegetarian ingredients. Vegetarian guests will be only too pleased to help if a host has any questions about vegetarian cooking.
For some more useful tips on vegetarian cookery read How to Prepare Vegetarian Christmas Food
Suzanne Bosworth - Suzanne Bosworth BA (Hons) - a professional writer published in magazines, journals and websites, specialising in arts, history and ...
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