Christmas in New Zealand is all about relaxing outside with friends and family enjoying delicious food and drink, says Anna Valentine.
The creator of The Veggie Tree Cook School in Kaeo in the Far North, Valentine, a trained chef, has been a vegetarian since she was 12.
"I want to share my 24 years of experience eating and cooking a plant-based vegetarian diet with you.''
In her second cook book, The Veggie Tree Spring & Summer Cookbook, she concentrates on spring and summer-inspired recipes making the most of abundant and affordable vegetables and fruit.
Part of that, she says, is creating great meals for al fresco dining, picnics and shared meals over the holiday season.
"My aim for The Veggie Tree Christmas food is to make life simple and use the best of what we have at our fingertips.
"For me, this means having food that won't take ages to do on the day and even better, can be made in advance.''
Many of her recipes also provide gluten- and dairy-free and vegan options.
Christmas stuffed vegetables with summer quinoa and hasselback potatoes
There is an easy way to prepare hasselback potatoes; just place a wooden spoon alongside each potato to ensure you don't cut too far through. The quinoa stuffing can be made two days in advance and the vegetables can be stuffed the day before.
Vegan | Gluten-free
Serves 4
1 aubergine, cut into large dice
2 tsp salt
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
400g tomatoes, canned, passata or grated
¼ cup olives, pitted and sliced
1 sweetcorn cob, kernals only
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup quinoa, white, red or mixed
400ml water
1 Tbsp dried oregano or 4 sprigs fresh
2 bay leaves
½ tsp cracked black pepper
4-6 capsicum, tops cut off and reserved, but seeds scooped out
1 marrow, sliced into 3cm thick slices with seeds removed
4-6 tomatoes, tops cut off (preferably with the stalks intact) and reserved, but seeds scooped out
4-6 potatoes, scrubbed and sliced halfway through at 3mm intervals
For the topping
2 Tbsp butter or olive oil
4 sprigs fresh sage, leaves only
¼ cup almonds
200g feta cheese, dairy or alternative, crumbled
Method
Put the diced aubergine in a colander and shake it while adding the 1tsp of salt. Place in the sink.
In a medium pan heat the olive oil, add the diced onion and fry for two minutes. Dry the aubergine in a tea towel, then add to the pan along with the garlic. Fry for four minutes, then add the quinoa, water, oregano and bay leaves.
Stir in the tomato and olives, cover. Simmer for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, then add the sweetcorn kernels and remaining salt and cracked black pepper.
Stir and cook for a further two minutes. Remove from the heat and cool.
Heat the oven to 190degC.
While the oven is heating, prepare the capsicums and tomatoes (tops cut off and reserved, but seeds scooped out) marrow (sliced into 3cm thick slices and seeds removed) and potatoes (scrubbed and sliced halfway through at 3mm intervals).
Oil a roasting tray. Stuff the capsicums, marrow pieces and tomatoes with the quinoa mixture. Put the tops back on the capsicums and tomatoes and arrange in the roasting tray with the prepared potatoes. Drizzle with olive oil, salt and cracked black pepper and bake for one hour until the capsicums are cooked and starting to slump.
To prepare the topping:
Melt the butter or olive oil in a frying pan on a medium heat.
Gently fry the sage leaves until crispy and remove with tongs or slotted spoon to a wooden bowl or paper towel. Then toast the almonds until golden and scatter over the top of the cooked vegetables. Add the crisp sage leaves and crumbled feta.
Serve with steamed snow peas or beans and mung basil pesto.
Mung basil pesto
Makes 600g
1 clove garlic, peeled
¼ cup macadamia, cashew or 2 Tbsp pine nuts
½ cup mung bean sprouts or 1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped
3 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
¼ cup parmesan, dairy or vegan, finely grated
125ml extra virgin olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
Pesto is great with tomato and Italian flavours, and also makes tasty dip or cracker topping, especially this version with the added fennel or mung beans. I have also added a few different options for the nut element as they all work well together and it's nice to have options. Other greens that work well as a pesto are coriander, silverbeet and carrot tops.
The easiest way to make this is in a food processor. If you don't have one, you could use a mortar and pestle or just chop everything up as fine as you can, then mix together well.
If you are using a food processor, add the garlic, nuts and mung bean sprouts or fennel bulb and whizz together until roughly chopped. Then add the basil leaves, parmesan, olive oil, lemon zest and juice,
salt and black pepper. Whizz again, scraping down the edges as necessary. Blitz again until finely chopped. Store in a jar in the fridge. I find covering the jar with tinfoil to stop the light getting in helps keep it from going brown on the top. Always keep a layer of olive oil on top as it helps the pesto to stay fresh.
Beautiful to look at and delicious to eat, these make a simple yet satisfying lunch and are ideal to take to a barbecue. Balsamic reduction is readily available at supermarkets. These would also be a lovely addition to the Christmas table as they've got the right colour combination going on and are definitely show-stoppers.
Strawberry salsa-filled avocado
Vegan | Gluten-free
Serves 4-6
½ red onion, finely diced
2 Tbsp balsamic reduction or 2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (you may like to add ½ tsp of unrefined sugar to the mix)
½ tsp Himalayan salt
a few cracks of black pepper
8-10 strawberries, finely diced
1 sprig fresh mint, finely chopped
2 sprigs basil, finely chopped
⅓ cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped (save half to add to the top)
6 avocados, stone and skin carefully removed
juice of 1 lemon
To serve
rocket, baby spinach or salad greens
To garnish
edible flowers (if you have them) or small basil leaves
drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
Method
Add the diced red onion, finely diced balsamic reduction, Himalayan salt and cracked black pepper to a bowl. Mix together and leave to marinate for 10 minutes.
Add the finely diced strawberries, fresh mint, basil and half of the macadamia nuts. Mix together.
Prepare the avocados by removing the skins and stones and cutting in half longways. Squeeze lemon juice over them.
Slice a little flat side on the outside curve so the avocado is stable on the plate. Then fill each half with the salsa and top with the reserved macadamia nuts.
Serve on a bed of rocket, baby spinach or salad greens and garnish with edible flowers if you have them or some smaller basil leaves and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.
Chocolate cherry mud cake
This cake is decadent and absolutely delicious. Cherry and chocolate is one of the best combinations and with coconut added to the mix it's to die for.
No-one will even know that it is vegan and gluten-free, if using the coconut flour option. The ganache can be used as an icing or chocolate sauce.
Vegan | Gluten-free
Makes one 21cm cake
200g dates
1 tsp baking soda
100g dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup coconut oil
½ cup boiling water
3 Tbsp chia seeds and ¾ cup water or 3 eggs
½ cup Dutch cocoa
½ cup desiccated coconut
½ cup wholemeal spelt flour OR coconut flour (gluten-free option)
½ cup coconut sugar
2 Tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp baking powder
250g cherries, pitted
Method
Heat the oven to 180degC and line a 21cm cake tin with baking paper.
To make the date chocolate mix, combine dates, baking soda, dark chocolate, coconut oil and boiling water in a bowl. Give the mixture a stir and leave to melt.
In a separate bowl add chia seeds and water (if using). Stir the chia and water together, then let it rest for two minutes before stirring again to help even absorption. If using the eggs, whisk together.
To make the dry mix combine Dutch cocoa, desiccated coconut, wholemeal spelt flour or coconut flour, coconut sugar, maple syrup and baking powder in a large bowl.
In a food processor, add the date chocolate mix and whizz until smooth. Stir into the dry mix bowl along with the chia mix (or egg).
Add half of the cherries to the bowl. Mix together and scrape into a lined tin, then scatter the remaining cherries on top. Bake for one hour until a skewer inserted comes out clean. Remove from the tin and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
Icing or sauce
⅓ cup virgin coconut oil
½ cup cacao powder
2 Tbsp cacao butter
3 Tbsp coconut nectar, maple or agave syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g dark chocolate, chopped
Method
Place the virgin coconut oil, cacao powder, cacao butter, coconut nectar, maple or agave syrup, vanilla extract and dark chocolate in a small saucepan.
Melt gently on a low heat, stirring all the time, and remove as soon as it's melted. Pour through a sieve into a jug. Use the back of a spatula to push the mixture through. This helps give a smooth texture to the chocolate sauce.
Pour over the cake when cool or use as a sauce.
Mung basil pesto
Vegan | Gluten-free
Makes 600g
1 clove garlic, peeled
¼ cup macadamia, cashew or 2 Tbsp pine nuts
½ cup mung bean sprouts or 1 fennel bulb, roughly chopped
3 cups basil leaves, loosely packed
¼ cup parmesan, dairy or vegan, finely grated
125ml extra virgin olive oil
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
