My 10th Vegan Christmas Dinner!
I was surprised the other day when I realised that this was actually my tenth Christmas dinner as a vegan! We started the day with a brunch around 10.30am opting to eat our main meal mid afternoon after a quick trip to our local pub for a drink. I helped with the planning but can take no credit for any of the cooking. The food you see is all Matt's work. For brunch we had these bagels. I recently discovered thin bagels which are the same width a normal bagel just half as thin and they are great for a breakfast sandwich. There was a layer of V Bites ham topped with chive studded scrambled tofu from The Starch Solution which was then drizzled with some Vegg. It was great and a good start to the day.
There was much debate about what to have as the main in our Christmas dinner. In past years I've enjoyed things this Mushroom and Chestnut Wellington, Forest Foods Nut Roasts and V Bites Turkey. I've tried Tofurky before too but not at Christmas, it was when I was in Canada at Thanksgiving. In the end we went with this idea of Matt's and it worked out brilliantly and was super rich and tasty. The filling is a layer of caramalised onion marmalade topped with Isa's Olive and Lentil Burger mix wrapped in shortcrust pastry.
It was served with roast shallot, brussel sprouts roasted in maple syrup, purple sprouting brocolli, green peas, roast potatoes, stuffing, red cabbage cooked with spices and apple, steamed carrots, bread sauce and a pig in blanket sausage. There was of course port gravy to top it.
We didn't have room for dessert but I can't finish without showing you the vegan Vienetta ice cream cake that my sister brought to my mum's for a Christmas Eve buffet. These can be found in the UK in Tesco's in areas with a big Jewish population and seeing as my sister lives in Prestwich she struck lucky and spotted this in the kosher dessert freezer section. It was fab and huge and cost just £5.
Any finally just in case any of you are looking for some new music to listen to for New Year here's a cheeky plug for Matt's alter ego 'Quiet Loner'. There is a Christmas/ New Year sale on all three Quiet Loner albums. All three are available as downloads (£4 each or £6 for all three) and the first two as CD's for £5 each (the third one has sold out). Check them out here.
Both of your Christmas meals look amazing! I loooove a good breakfast sandwich especially when The Vegg is involved, and your Christmas dinner looks perfect - Matt's lentil burger mix with caramelised onion marmalade and pastry sounds especially good. And Hell Yeah for having been vegan for over 10 years, that's awesome!
ReplyDeleteThat cake looks so impressive! I wish we had vegan desserts like that in the US! Or maybe we do?
ReplyDeleteLook for ones labelled parve which means no dairy and then just check for eggs, honey etc. My sister said there were a couple of other things too that looked vegan.
DeleteThanks for the tip, I never knew that which is weird since I live in an area with a high Jewish population.
DeleteNow thats what I call a Christmas dinner! It looks delicious :o)
ReplyDeleteOH my goodness! I can't believe that such a fancy vegan dessert like that can be store bought!!?? There is just nothing like that in these parts. How cool. Congrats on 10 years of vegan Christmases!!! <3
ReplyDeleteThis looks great. I love your Christmas main, very clever idea!
ReplyDeleteI think in Sydney or Melbourne at kosher stores you can get vegan vianettas like the one you have pictured, but you cannot get them here in Brisbane. Sadness.
Happy 10 years of vegan Christmas. :)
Yes, Matt put a photo on the WFVE Facebook page and some people said you could get the same one but I think they were Sydney/Melbourne based. Hopefully it'll be more widely available one day.
DeleteWow, vegan Vienetta ice cream cake is common where you are? That looks incredible!!
ReplyDeleteI haven't had Vienetta in yonkies, so will look out for these. Congrats on being vegan for 10 years and hats off to Matt for the Christmas meal, my husband cooked our Vegetarian Christmas Roast Dinner too, so it felt a real treat.
ReplyDeleteOh my FLIP, vegan vienetta?! I need to re-live my youth asap! This would be worth a trip to Prestwich! Your dinner looks delicious. I can't wait for next Christmas :D
ReplyDeleteOoh that sounds like a good chrimbo dinner! I wish I could find the vegan vienetta, I loved it as a kid!
ReplyDeleteOh wow, your Christmas dinner looks amazing! And vegan vienetta? I'm gobsmacked! That was my favourite pudding as a kid, I will have to keep an eye out for it.
ReplyDeleteVegan vienetta has just blown my mind - can you get them online through Tesco too? Those brunch sandwiches will haunt me for some time!
ReplyDeleteI hadn't thought about online Vienetta but just checked and sadly not. Matt put a picture of it on What Fat Vegans Eat on Facebook and a few people said they'd found it in London but afraid I can't remember where.
ReplyDeleteThe Vienetta is actually this one: http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/default.aspx?id=267780231
ReplyDeleteAmericans might find it easier to get from here: http://www.koshercentral.com/frozen/ice-cream-frozen-treats/strauss-fantasi-van-moca-parve
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