Vegan Christmas menu III

Today we are going to show you our third and last proposal for a great, plant-based Christmas menu.

We start our 3 course menu with our comfortably warming and creamy chestnut soup.

As the main course of our menu, we have the mushroom ragout with potato dumplings for you. The potatoes are half raw and half cooked. This is a german classic and giving the dumplings a great texture. Nice and creamy and always a good idea for us as dumpling lovers.

Now you are lucky if there is some more space left, because at the end of our hearty menu there is a semi-frozen dish made from hazelnuts and chocolate sauce. -Luckily there is no extra sugar in it!

The menu combines great, Christmas flavors and at least dessert and soup are easy to prepare.

The 1/2 and 1/2 dumplings should not be made too long in advance, as they will get this brown / gray color over time.

Of course you are welcome to exchange components with one of of our other Christmas menu proposals. We are definitely happy if we can encourage someone to enjoy Christmas without animal products.

Print Recipe

Vegan Christmas menu III

Course: Hauptgericht, Nachspeise, Suppe, Vorspeise

Servings: 4 persons

Author: Madeleine

Equipment

• food processor

Ingredients

Chestnut soup

• 2 onions
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 tbsp oil
• 400 g chestnuts ( cooked and vacuum-sealed)
• 800 ml vegetable broth
• 100 ml vegetable cream
• 1 bay leaf
• some parsley
• salt, pepper
• 4 tbsp vegan creme fraiche (optional)
• some cinnamon

Mushroom ragout

• 1 large onion
• 1 tbsp butter
• 500 g mushrooms
• 10 g dried porcini mushrooms
• 100 ml vegetable broth
• 1 cup of vegetable creme fraiche
• salt pepper
• paprika powder optional
• ½ bunch of parsley
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• cornstarch

Potato dumplings

• 500 g potatoes boiled and peeled from the day before
• 500 g potatoes raw
• 60 g potato flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 pinch of nutmeg
• possibly a slice of toast as a filling

Semi-frozen

• 200 g hazelnuts whole
• 700 ml of water
• 180 g dates (pitted and chopped)
• 3 tbsp potato starch
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract)
• 1 gr pinch of salt
• 1 tbsp vodka (optional)
• 1 tbsp rice syrup
• 1 tbsp nut butter ( e.g. peanut or cashew butter)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3-4 tbsp water

Instructions

Chestnut soup

• Peel onion and garlic and chop finely.
• Roughly chop the chestnuts.
• Sauté the onion, garlic and chestnuts in a saucepan with oil.
• Now deglaze the broth, add the bay leaf and simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Then remove from heat, take out the bay leaf and puree finely.
• Finally stir in the plant-based cream, season with salt, pepper and a little cinnamon and enjoy.

Potato dumplings 1/2 & 1/2

• Peel and grate the raw potatoes. Then squeeze it out well in a clean kitchen towel. It is best to collect the liquid and use the sediment (potato starch) later as a binding agent.
• Press the cooked potatoes through a potato press or otherwise process them into a pulp.
• Put the squeezed, raw potatoes and boiled potatoes in a large bowl, season with salt and nutmeg and knead well together with the potato flour and starch from the potato water.
• If you like, you can cut a slice of toast into cubes and roast it in a pan without adding any fat. Then set the cubes aside.
• Then shape into dumplings (the smaller, the faster they cook). And if necessary, put a couple of toast cubes in the middle.
• Put on a large saucepan with salted water and bring to a boil.
• Then lower the stove (the water should no longer bubble) and slowly add the dumplings to the water.
• Let it steep for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size.
• Now take it out of the water with the skimmer and serve.

Mushroom ragout

• Peel the onion and chop finely.
• Now sauté the onion in the butter in a saucepan until translucent.
• Put the porcini mushrooms in a small bowl and soak in hot water.
• Cut the fresh mushrooms into slices and add to the glassy onion cubes.
• Sauté and stir for a while to keep them from burning.
• When the mushrooms have softened, deglaze with the broth and the water from the porcini mushrooms.
• Now finely chop the dried and soaked porcini mushrooms and add them to the pot.
• Wash and finely chop the parsley.
• Now add the creme fraiche and season with salt, pepper (optionally paprika powder) and lemon juice. Depending on how you want the consistency of the sauce, add some more liquid (broth or water) or thicken with a little cornstarch dissolved in cold water.
• Finally add the parsley and serve.

Semi-frozen

• The shell of the hazelnuts must first be removed.
• To do this, roast the nuts in the oven (laid out flat on a baking sheet) or in a pan without fat.
• Keep an eye on the nuts, they burn quickly.
• When the peel has slightly taken on color and you can smell the nut aromas, you’re ready.
• Place on a kitchen towel, gather the ends like a bag and rub the nuts together in the towel. The shell should come loose. Do this for a while until the skin is largely rubbed off.
• Put the peeled hazelnuts together with the water in a high-performance mixer and mix until you have a fine cream or the nuts are very fine. This takes a few minutes and the mass becomes quite light.
• Now add the remaining ingredients.
• So put the dates, starch, vanilla and salt in the blender and mix again for a few minutes. The mixture gets a little warm, but that’s okay.
• Now season the mass to taste. Is the sweetness sufficient and already creamy enough? Gff. Add a little more date syrup or other liquid sweetness and mix again.
• Finally, optionally add a little vodka. This should make the consistency a little creamier.
• Now prepare the chocolate sauce.
• Mix the rice syrup, nut butter, cocoa powder and 3 tablespoons of water in a small bowl. Depending on the consistency, add a little more water if necessary. The sauce can be thick, but it should flow. Also here briefly taste whether the sauce is sweet enough.
• Now line a loaf pan with baking paper.
• The bottom of the loaf pan will later be the top of the semi-frozen one. Therefore, first put some nuts or fruits in for decoration and sprinkle with a little chocolate sauce. Then add part of the nut mixture and layer in alternation with the chocolate sauce.
• Then put the whole thing in the freezer and freeze for about 4 hours.
• We do not recommend leaving it in the freezer for so much longer as it will lose its creaminess.
• Take out of the freezer about 15 minutes before serving and turn out onto a platter. Now peel off the baking paper and let it thaw a little. If it is already completely frozen, it will take a little longer to thaw. Now cut into slices and serve.