Vegan For The Holidays

One of the most challenging aspects of a home chef''s holiday menu planning is cooking for vegans and vegetarians. Is it possible to create delicious and fun meals without seafood or beef? Can there be tasty holiday cookies and treats without the enhancement of butter and cream? Yes! There's a brand new cookbook that can help to navigate a meatless season.

The Vegan Holiday Cookbook (Robert Rose Publishers 2017) was written by Marie LaForet, a well known French vegetarian  and creator of the blog Vegetal-100. She is also a Parisian and that means elegant dishes and afters that would go well at any time of the year. Her book 's introduction indicates that she is an animal rights advocate along with being concerned about diet and health.She also lists the gluten free and adaptable recipes so that sensitive eaters won't have to suffer.. Mme LaForet also groups the recipes into different categories, from traditional to light and sophisticated, including buffet and last minute.This book is perfect for any vegan novice , looking to create that perfect at home gathering Another plus is that she concludes with home made gift section.It is easy to copy her various butters using vegan margarine and such spices as dill and black pepper for one and another one loaded with sun dried tomatoes, rosemary and smoked paprika,There's also recipes for flavored salts such as garlic and herb and lemon  and spice. Home bakers would appreciate a pretty jar filled with cinnamon and vanilla sugar.

The recipes themselves are just as flawless.Imagine a party graced with her vegan caviar (!) and squash truffles. The first is made with flaked seaweed sasoning to give it that briny,salty flavor. Mme. LaForet uses this a lot in creating faux seafood dishes such as tofu gravlax canapes and fisherman rillettes. She is big on puff pastry and uses it to create chestnut vol-au-vents and puff pastry stars, ripe with chestnut and squash. Main dishes are a vegan's dream Try the porcini mushroom risotto, chock full of button and porcini mushrooms.A great opener for a Christmas lunch could be the ravioli in flavored broth that's been zinged up with the fiery Chinese five spice powder.A tree trimming or Hanukah  party can be made cozier with the tasty seitan pot pies filled with meaty cubes of seitan -or a meat like wheat gluten.Another Hanukah treat would be the potato pancakes loaded with kohlrabi. The sides are simple but classy. Her Hassleback potatoes and roasted beets would be the right match for her paupiettes or her spin on a vegan Beef Wellington. The book ends with sweets and cocktails. Mme, LaForet has a dairy free panna cotta made with vegan creme fraiche and chestnut puree. Every holiday cookbook has cookie recipes and she gives us shortbread and the sweetly spicy Pepperkakor. Drinks are made with ginger and hibiscus and orange cranberry for some festive sipping.

The Vegan  Holiday  Cookbook is the go to Bible for vegan and vegetarian home chefs. They can create elegant hors d'ouevres, main meals and desserts without sacrificing taste. Buy it today and start creating a cruelty free menus for the holidays ahead.

Chestnuts And All Souls

Today is All Saints's day which leads to all Soul's . Throughout Catholic Europe the day is spent roasting chestnuts, their steam representing souls . Yet chestnuts also represent something else - versatility and flavor. They can be used in both savory and sweet dishes.

Most home chefs will be taking an interest in the nut at the end of this month. Many will break out the family recipe for chestnut dressing. This is a nice alternative to just traditional bread stuffing with the nutmeats adding a sweet earthy flavor. The recipe is a simple dressing one with the addition of a pound of chestnuts.They're boiled first and then peeled. You can also roast them for a richer, more complex taste.Roasted chestnuts will also add some crunch too. Sausage can also be added if you want.Not surprisingly , they can be used in salads too.Pair them with the tart Granny Smith apples along with arugula and endive. Because all three have strong tastes, stick to a simple red wine vinegar based vinaigrette. Leftover turkey can be added to this the day after the holiday for a refreshing break from heavy eating.Chestnuts are one of the few nuts that can be ground into flour for bread. Keep in mind that it is gluten free and it won't raise like regular flour.You can make a very flavorful sweet flatbread with it.The nuts need to be roasted in a 400 degree Fahrenheit oven for 25 minutes. They then have to dehydrated at 400 degrees F oven for twelve hours to a day. The chestnuts are then ground in a spice grinder or blend to a fine crumb. They can also be ground into polenta. This is what the Northern Italians, primarily, the Piedmontese ate before corn was introduced to Europe.

The flour can also be used for cakes and tortes.This makes for an elegant alternative to regular  cake and pie.The flour should be sifted before using because it does tend to clump.The end result is a dense ,low cake. The flavor is intense so a simple chocolate glaze or dusting of powdered sugar would be the best choice of icing.The batter can also be used for cupcakes, but again. don't expect the height that you would get with regular cupcakes. Italy gives us  their version called castanagnaccio. This has olive oil along with raisins and orange zest in it. Walnuts and pignole, or pine nuts add more nuttiness while rosemary leaves decorate the top.This is a Tuscan tradition that appeals more to adult tastes and is usually served with wine and not coffee.A truly decadent chestnut dessert is marron glace, made in northern Italy and southern France.The chestnuts have to be boiled in salted water for twenty minutes and then are peeled. In another pan  cook two cups of granulated sugar into a quart of water.A vanilla bean can then be added for more taste.The syrup is then poured over the nuts and then left to simmer over a low heat for thirty minutes. They can be served afterwards with fresh whipped cream or better yet , a splash of brandy. Candied chestnuts can also give a bowl of oatmeal some oomph as well as topping butter cookies.

Chestnuts represent the souls heading towards Heaven. They also represent a versatile nut that can be used in both savory and sweet recipes. Enjoy them not just today and tomorrow but for the rest of the month..

Season Favorite Chestnuts

Today is All Soul's Day a time to remember the saints and souls we have lost. It's celebrated in the simple  celebration of eating chestnuts. he holy day also opens up to chestnut season. What is great about chestnuts is their nutritional value and versatility.

Chestnuts have been around for millennia, having come from the East and into Europe.  Alexander The Great and the Roman emperors  ordered them to be planted. They were easy trees to grow along the rocky mountainous areas bordering the Mediterranean, and were ground into cereals and flours, often substituting grain. Early Christians used them as the symbol for chastity.it was considered food for the poor for many centuries , however roasted chestnuts were eaten for All Soul's day as well as Saint Martin's  day in Portugal and Saint Stephen's Day in Italy. The nuts are widely popular in Asia . They are a big part of Japan's New Year's Day dinner, because they symbolize mastery and strength..The  British brought them over to India where they reign supreme in the Himalayas. The indigenous American tribes were eating chestnuts for decades, long before the Europeans came over. We almost lost all chestnut tress in 1904 thanks to   chestnut blight, a fungal disease that came from Asian chestnuts. Sicily is the largest importer of them,having exported them to the States for the last sixty years.Sicilian chestnuts are one of the best species. Chestnuts are primarily carbohydrates with some sucroses or sugars. In some areas of Europe, they're call bread fruit because they can be ground into flour for loaves.

What can be done with chestnuts? A lot. One of my favorites is just roasting them over the stove and eating them straight from the shell. This is the best way to enjoy their sweet, almost milky lingering taste.Many Americans make chestnut stuffing to go with their holiday turkeys.It does work in it, giving a usually mushy texture some meaty crunch.      Chestnuts can often open a meal in either soup or salad.A cream of chestnut soup is  the perfect foil for a chill Saturday night.A chestnut madeira soup would be a great way to open a Thanksgiving dinner.Add some quartered roasted ones to any salad to give it some oomph. For a different spin on a Northern Italian classic, try making chestnut gnocchi.  It       does have the dish's traditional potato in it for body along with bread flour.it is served with a burnt butter sauce, rich with garlic and parsley.The nuts can also go into a risotto,too.The   French and the Italians candy them into marron glace which would be perfect over vanilla ice cream, creating a sophisticated take on a sundae.. They can be turned into a chestnut mousse along with being a main ingredient in brownies.

All Soul's Day heralds in the start of the chestnut season. These are versatile nuts that can be cooked in a variety of ways. Try them to experience their meaty texture and sweet nutty taste.

Holiday Classics

Holiday classics this time of year may include Frosty  and Rudolph but  they also include chestnuts and Jello.

Jello???? Yes, it and so many other basics are the start of many a holiday dish. They're also comfort food and what's a holiday without that.

Chestnuts roasting on an open fire is a classic, in particularly a New York one.They're everywhere in Manhattan The tradition started centuries ago on London and Parisian streets as well. You can roast them at home. using a perforated metal pie plate for stovetop cooking. Cut an X on the tops to release steam or they'll explode. Their taste is sweetly intense so you really don't need any seasonings. They're a nice accompaniment to popcorn at a tree trimming party.as for popcorn itself, nothing  beats the old fashioned way on the stove in a sturdy pot.Use 1/3 cup cooking oil or coconut oil to 1/2 cup of kernels. The pot should be warmed before the oil is even added. It should be shaken every now and them so each kernel is evenly coated in oil. Butter is always recommended for that old fashioned movie theater taste. .Melt it right after  the popcorn is popped , preferably in the same pot where you cooked the popcorn. For caramel use butter , again, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt to start with Baking soda and a touch of vanilla finish it off . Pour over the popcorn until every kernel is coated , cool and then munch.

As for Jello, it's really is a holiday classic. You can do a cheesy fun dessert with red and green cubes . Serve with Cool whip  dusted with gold and silver sanding sugar for a sparkly spin.Surprisingly it can also be made into sophisticated sweets  for elegant holiday parties.TRy a light and airy Key Lime Cloud Square which is  a combo of lime Jello, cream cheese and CoolWhip. It's a perfect end if you're having a chicken and champagne dinner party.A fun and creative dessert are Jello stained glass bars  which require four  flavors of it along with a mix of plain  gelatin and condensed milk. There's no baking with this which makes it super easy to make, Jello salads are the holiday buffer must have and actually standard.Try them with any kind of fruit as a sweet side to casseroles. Miracle Whip and Philadelphia Cream cheese are also holiday classics, being used in everything from crab spread to cheesecake,You can make yummy salads using leftover holiday  roasts and Miracle Whip.

This is the season for holiday classics. It could be a plate of steamed chestnuts roasted on an open fire or a Jello salad. Either way, they are the perfect comfort foods for the holidays, full of memories and taste.

A Time For Chestnuts

Today is All Saint's Day and tomorrow is All Soul's Day, two days of memorial in the Christian calendar. It surprisingly  is a food day  as well, with hot, roasted  chestnuts commemorating souls.Yet November is the time to usher in the chestnut season as well. It's a nutritious nut, with a lot of versatility to it.

Chestnuts have been around since BCE, growing mostly in Southern France , Italy, Spain ,Portugal and some parts of Greece. The ancient Greeks even won a battle by just storing up on them. Originally the ground chestnuts were used as a kind of cereal by ancient Romans and Greeks and its' ground flour was used in a variety of cakes and breads.it was also grown in the Orient, mostly in China, being employed more as a savory ingredient. It's a good source of Vitamin C and thiamin .Chestnuts are  mostly carbohydrates and has always been a great addition to any diet. The flavor is mild , perfect on it's own but also good candied..


For All Saint's and All Soul's Day, you can  roast chestnuts which is a very easy process. Slit the top with a cross so they don't burst. This allows steam to escape too. Roast over a low flame for about twenty minutes and then eat hot. The result is a delicious sweetmeat  with a hearty center and a light sweet, smoky taste. They're also good  as the classic dessert marron glacee. This is boiled chestnuts soaked in a simple vanilla syrup for a good half a day, .then baked in a low oven for forty five minutes.Chestnuts can also be pureed and mixed with sweet cream for an interesting tart or pie filling.


Commemorate All Saint's and All Soul's Days with roasted chestnuts. They are a traditional and tasty, redolent of smokiness and sweetness.They're a perfect fall dish for the season.