A valid alternative to celebrate Easter without the need to use animal meat, thus avoiding unnecessarily and improperly killing so many sheep is definitely vegan cuisine! Here is a complete menu for completely vegan breakfast and Easter lunch
Don't store avocado like this: it's dangerousEvery year, only to celebrate Easter - including goats, lambs and sheep - as many as 900.000 animals are killed? And that's not all, because very often - to meet the needs of consumers and speed up production processes - kids and lambs come transported alive to slaughterhouses, for long stretches and uneven paths, which naturally cause them a great deal of stress. The picture worsens even further if we consider that slaughter workers often do they also skip the pre-kill stun phase, now made mandatory by law
But there is a viable alternative for celebrate Easter without the need to use animal meat, thus avoiding unnecessarily and improperly killing so many sheep? One solution is definitely the one to opt for
Some of you will certainly be convinced that this type of diet, which bans the consumption of meat, fish and all animal derivatives, is good for health, but is not very tasty, and above all not very suitable for traditional holidays such as Easter. For dispel this false myth, We have decided to offer you an original, greedy and eco-compatible Easter menu for Easter lunch, usually based on lamb meat.
Index
VEGAN EASTER LUNCH
For the pasqual lunchand, instead - whether you are alone, in the company of relatives or friends, or simply in two - you can enjoy a varied menu, which alternates delicate and intense flavors, light herbs and strong spices, traditional and exotic flavors, for an original, delicious lunch , rich in different ingredients and in the name of the variety of flavors. This is why we have decided to offer you some tofu skewers in tempura, followed by a couplet of first courses: baked lentil pie e fusilli in vegetable sauce. As a main course, instead of the classic lamb with potatoes - typical of our Easter tradition - we show you the recipe to prepare tasty seitan meatballs with sauce, accompanied by artichokes in saffron sauce. To close, we could not miss a beautiful chocolate cake, which we embellished with cinnamon.Tempura: tofu skewers
For the tempura batter you will need:
300 g of soy flour
1 teaspoon of curry
200 ml of organic beer (very cold)
2 teaspoons of salt
water
Fry oil
300 g of tofu
2 carrots
2 stalks of celery
1 potato
soy sauce
the juice of one lemon
sunflower oil
Sesame seeds
Let it macerate for about half an hour.
Then cut separately igboth celery slices about two centimeters thick, carrots and potatoes sliced slightly thinner.Put to boil, in boiling water, the potatoes; wait four to five minutes, then pour the carrots into the water, after another five minutes add the celery. Finally wait for another three minutes, then drain everything.
Let it cool for about ten minutes, then start preparing the skewers, taking care to alternate the cubes of tofu, the slices of potatoes, carrots and celery.
Join the soy flour, cold beer, curry, salt and a little water to mix the dough, mix well until the mixture is smooth and put it in the refrigerator for about thirty minutes.
Once this is done, heat the sunflower oil and when it gets to high temperatures, dip the skewers first in the batter and then in the boiling oil.
Let them brown well on all sides, drain and let them rest for a few minutes on absorbent paper.
Before serving them, sprinkle them with a little lemon and decorate with sesame seeds. Then you can enjoy an appetizer with all the trimmings!
Baked rigatoni pie with lentils
You will need:
250 g of tofu
vegan bechamel *
400 g of rigatoni (or another type of pasta, if you prefer)
250 g of boiled lentils
400 g of peeled tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
half onion
breadcrumbs
extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch of red pepper
Put a little salt and a little pepper, according to your tastes, and let it cook for about fifteen minutes, taking care to stir constantly, in order to ensure even cooking.
If you notice that the mixture dries too much, add a little water and continue pouring it as it absorbs. When cooked, blend everything until it becomes a soft cream.
Meantime cook the pasta in abundant salted water and drain it when it is al dente.
At this point, pour the rigatoni into a large pot, add the cream of lentils and peeled tomatoes, a drizzle of oil and the garlic clove (which you must first fry in a pan for just a minute),l tofu chopped into very small cubes, a pinch of red pepper and a little water, which will help you to mix the whole. Put everything on the stove and stir carefully until the water you added is well absorbed and the tofu is well blended.
Once this is done, line an oven pan with oil and line it with breadcrumbs. Then make alternating layers of pasta and béchamel, ending with the béchamel. At this point add a sprinkling of breadcrumbs on the surface and bake for about twenty minutes, or until the top layer of the dough is golden brown.
Serve hot but not hot!
* How to prepare vegan bechamel!
Melt 200 g of non-hydrogenated margarine in a saucepan over very low heat; once completely dissolved, turn off and gradually add - with the help of a sieve - seven tablespoons of flour, add a pinch of nutmeg, a little salt and a pinch of pepper.
Stir - preferably with a whisk - to avoid lumps and put back on the stove, over low heat, until the béchamel has obtained the right consistency.
Fusilli in broccoli, carrot and potato sauce
400 g of fusilli
700 g of broccoli
300 g of carrots
2 medium potatoes
2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
sale
pepper
parsley
a pinch of paprika
At this point, drain them one by one with a drain and cook the fusilli in the same water in which you boiled the vegetables.
Once this is done, put the broccoli, potatoes and carrots in the blender, add four tablespoons of oil, a pinch of salt and blend everything until you get a smooth sauce. If the mixture becomes too hard, add a little water and continue to blend.
Then drain the pasta and fry the garlic cloves in a pan. When the garlic is golden brown, vpour the pasta, add the vegetable sauce, a drop of oil, a little pepper and a pinch of paprika, which will enhance the delicate flavor of the vegetables. Sauté everything over high heat for a few minutes and, before serving it hot, add some parsley to the pasta to taste.
Seitan meatballs with sauce: a real alternative to lamb
Before leaving you to prepare this dish, it is worth pointing out that these meatballs, despite being free of meat and any derivatives of animal origin, have a taste good, authentic and intense, but above all they do not make you regret traditional meat dishes.
ingredients:
300 g of ginger
300 g of beets
50 g of bread
70 ml of soy milk
500 ml of tomato sauce
half onion
flour
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
pine nuts
Finely chop the onion and seitan, cook the chard and chop them. Then put the bread to soak for a few minutes in a bowl full of soya milk (or rice). Once softened, squeeze it well and transfer it to a bowl. Add all the other chopped ingredients, a spoonful of flour, salt and pepper. Mix well and make a homogeneous mixture. At this point, with your hands, make meatballs using a couple of tablespoons of mixture for each one.
Meanwhile, heat some oil in a pan and when it reaches temperature, dip the meatballs first in the flour and then in the oil. Fry them for a few minutes - until golden brown - drain and let them rest on absorbent paper.
Once this is done, put a drizzle of oil in a pan with a little finely chopped onion and once golden, add the tomato sauce. Cook for about ten minutes and then put the fried meatballs in it, cook for about ten minutes, then add the pine nuts to taste and served hot!
Artichokes with saffron cream
You will need:
7 artichokes
2 sachets of saffron
200 g of vegetable cream (check that it does not contain hydrogenated fats)
the juice of one lemon
seven leaves of mint
2 cloves of garlic
200 ml of vegetable stock
extra virgin olive oil
Put some oil in a pan, add the garlic and when it is golden brown pour in the artichokes, add a little salt, cover and cook for about five minutes, taking care to mix from time to time.
After this time, add half of the vegetable broth you have prepared a little at a time, then let the excess water absorb and finish cooking without a lid.
Once this is done, add a handful of chopped mint, stir and leave to warm.
Add a few leaves of mint to decorate and serve hot!
Chocolate and cinnamon cake
To end the Easter lunch, the much loved chocolate could not be missing! For this we have thought of a delicious dessert, spiced with cinnamon, which enhances the flavor of cocoa giving an exotic taste.
You will need:
230 g flour
200ml vanilla soy milk (for example Provamel or you can try it yourself)
200 ml of vegetable cream for desserts
cocoa powder (preferably organic and from fair trade)
70 g of whole cane sugar
70 g of rice malt (sold in convenient jars)
70 g of non-hydrogenated margarine
30 g of dark chocolate
sodium bicarbonate
half a sachet of baking powder
cinnamon
For the icing, you will need:
70 g of dark chocolate
a spoonful of margarine
a spoonful of maple syrup
a pinch of cinnamon
Turn on the oven and set the temperature to 150 degrees.
In another container add the brown sugar, malt, cream, milk and margarine - that you have melted slowly in a bain-marie.
Mix and pour everything into the other bowl containing the flour and ingredients. Mix gently with a whisk, until you get a homogeneous mixture.
Chop the dark chocolate into many flakes and add them to the mixture. At this point you can oil a nice baking pan, sprinkle it with flour, pour the mixture and put it in the oven. Let it cook for about half an hour. Once cooked and cooled, pyou can cover it with the icing.
Just melt the dark chocolate with margarine in a bain-marie, aadd a spoonful of maple syrup, a pinch of cinnamon and mix until a homogeneous cream is obtained.
At this point, just spread it evenly on the cake and, once dry and compact, you can serve it on the table!
And as always… enjoy your meal and Happy Easter to all!
Verdiana Amorosi
