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Want to have a Christmas that doesn’t have a big impact on the environment? We’re here to help with a new series, speaking to experts about how to be as sustainable and green this festive season as you can, no matter your budget.
Green Christmas is supported by Volvo, a car manufacturer which has pledged to be carbon neutral by 2040.
As part of our Green Christmas series, we’re sharing some meat-free recipes with you.
OFF WORK? PLANNING your Christmas dinner? If you’re still not sure what to feast on during the festive season, we’ve got some meat-free suggestions.
They’re suitable for whether you’re a veteran vegetarian, a newly converted vegan or simply want to cut down your meat intake.
Compiled by top chefs and food writers, have a taste of how you can have a delicious Christmas and also stay environmentally friendly.
This recipe comes courtesy of Susan Jane White and is from her new book Clever Batch.
“Mushrooms can make a stealthy replacement for meat,” she says.
“We grate fresh horseradish into mashed buttery potatoes to serve alongside this wintry stew. A flurry of flaky sea salt and chopped parsley brings it up an octave. Move over turkey and ham – there’s a new deity in town.”
This recipe serves 8 with mash and can be frozen.
Ingredients
Method
Heat 2 tablespoons of your preferred fat in your largest heavy-based saucepan. Add the onion and garlic. Sauté over a low-medium heat until glassy.
Tumble in the chopped celeriac, bay leaves and thyme and let them socialise for five minutes on a low heat while you get going on the mushrooms.
Then pour the stock and the Merlot into the pot. Let the pot gurgle for one hour, until the celeriac is tender. Leave the lid off to let the alcohol escape.
To prep the mushrooms while the stew merrily cooks, slice them into bite-sized chunks or leave whole if small.
Heat the remaining ghee, butter or olive oil in a large frying pan, then lower the heat and cook the mushrooms until tender and caramelised. Do this in batches while the stew bubbles.
Season the mushrooms and parachute them into the pot as they cook.
At this point, you can grate some ginger into the pot and let it gently simmer until the celeriac is tender. Dissolve the kuzu or arrowroot in the cold water and add to the pot 10 minutes before the end of the cooking time to thicken the broth.
You might like to pop some miso paste in at this stage for extra richness.
That’s it. Keep the pot warm on your lowest setting until you’re ready to serve. Your mash can be kept warm in the oven covered with foil on a low setting too.
This might sound ambitious, but it’s not as difficult as it sounds. If you’re not familiar with seitan, it’s a wheat gluten that can be used to make loads of great plant-based meals.
The recipe is from the Cornucopia Green Cookbook, produced by the vegetarian restaurant in Dublin.
Ingredients
For the harissa-baked cabbage
For the glaze
Preheat your oven to 190 degrees.
To prepare the cabbage, massage the ingredients together in a large bowl. Season to taste and transfer to a large roasting tray.
Cover with foil pierced with a few holes and bake in the oven for 90 minutes or so until everything is tender.
For the steaks, combine the tofu, spices, mustard and nutritional yeast with 100ml water, 60ml rapeseed oil and 30ml shoyu and blitz to a smooth purée in a high-speed blender.
Transfer to a large bowl along with the vital wheat gluten and knead by hand until well combined and formed into a smooth elastic dough.
Divide the dough into six equal pieces and flatten them out into steaks. Heat a tablespoon or two of oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add three steaks and cook for two minutes before turning them and repeating on the opposite side.
Set the cooked steaks aside while you repeat the process with the remaining three.
Return all six steaks to the pan (don’t worry that they will overlap), pour in 700ml of water and the remaining 50ml shoyu and cover the pan with its lid or some foil, leaving a small gap for the steam to escape.
Poach at a low simmer for about 30 minutes or until the liquid has been absorbed. Remove the steaks and clean out the pan.
To make the glaze, whisk together all the ingredients. Heat a little more oil in the pan and add three steaks with half the glaze. Ramp up the heat and turn the steaks over a couple of times to heat through while they absorb the glaze.
Serve immediately on top of a mound of braised cabbage, and with something creamy on the side to balance the heat of the harissa spices (mashed potato or plain soya yoghurt). Repeat with the remaining steaks as needed.
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Carbon neutral my eye! Many of the ingredients on these recipes can’t be grown in Ireland and therefore are shipped into the country over thousands of miles on ships or planes. If you want a real carbon neutral cams dinner we should be root veg like spuds, carrot, turnips, sprouts etc and Irish meat. Not fancy hipster food that have to be flown halfway across the globe. More virtue signalling muck from vegans and veggies!
@Liam Mullane: youre easily triggered.who claimed or said it was carbon neutral? There is no such thing as carbon neutral food unless you grow it yourself. And actually, even if veg and fruit are shipped in from abroad, that still has less of a carbon footprint than local meat production.
@Conoroconnor: In fairness Conor, it does mention twice in the intro that going meat free is the more environmentally friendly choice. Which Liam has pointed out above is absolute nonsense in this case when you are flying in foreign fruit and veg. Go meat free if you like for ethical reasons. But dont pretend you are helping the environment. (Nice article here summarizing this with links to the relavent scientific publications and showing the complexity of this https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/18/being-a-vegetarian-might-make-you-feel-environmentally-superior-why-that-may-be-wrong/)
@Writeon: I read an article recently but I cant find it agaln to link to, that showed even allowing for air miles a vegetarian diet has a lower carbon footprint. No-one claims it’s carbon neutral. Of course, not every vegeterian follows the diet for environmental reasons, it’s just one of many reason people choose not to eat meat. And it IS possible to be vegeterian and eat locally produced produce which would have a significantly lower carbon footprint, this is not possible eating locally produced meat.
@Conoroconnor: I wonder how many vegans plan on starting families, adding more consumers to the planet, which would be infinitely worse than their food choices, that’s always the killer question to find out who is a virtue signalling hypocrite and who is serious about saving the planet.
@Alan Currie: and yet the article and recipes make no claim to be vegan. They’re vegetarian. Do you not know the difference? Anyway, let’s assume for a minute a vegan/vegetarian diet is more environmentally friendly: A vegan and/or vegetarian family has 3 kids, a meat eating family has 3 kids. The vegetarian families carbon footprint is still less. If I choose to fly less for environmental reasons, does that mean I can’t use gas to heat my house?
@Conoroconnor: of course it’s a more environmentally friendly diet, that’s not in dispute. But it makes little difference if other decisions in their life choices are infinitely worse for the planet, but they conveniently turn a blind eye to that elephant in the room, just hypocrites.
Turkey ham and lamb for me
@classic: have you room for one more?
Why does a vegetarian recipe call for bone broth?
Whilst I won’t be having a meat-free Christmas, my family and I have decided to stop buying Irish beef due to the disgraceful farmer protests and self-serving behaviour of the IFA, we’ll buy British from now on, plenty of beef on sale in Irish shops from Northern Ireland.
@BillyCroft: You rebel.
@BillyCroft: which is probably Irish. Clown
@BillyCroft: in order to make your post more interesting I mentally swapped out the F for an R. It was much more entertaining then
@BillyCroft: so line the pockets of English farmers well done you . Not
@BillyCroft: line the pockets of English farmers. Clown
@BillyCroft: You’ll have to head up North for your healthcare too Bill. Those upstarty nurses have been striking too.
@David Carolan: I don’t think English farmers produce Northern Irish beef.
@BillyCroft: You obviously don’t like good meat because British Beef is muck.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: well if did read it he said he was buying British beef so go again
@David Carolan: ah don’t worry about that David u could by all the beef in Britain and Ireland and u won’t line the farmers pockets, the retailers and processors perhaps but not the farmers
@BillyCroft: That was done in my view to help with the IFA elections? Not scared of mad cows disease?
Gosh even the mention of non-meat dishes is enough to trigger some people.
@EillieEs: Christmas tree stew for all the vegans after Xmas?
Nope.
All this food just ends up in the toilet….
If meat eating is so repugnant why do these vegans and vegetarians go to such lengths to copy and call the “alternatives” meat sounding names?
@Seamus Murphy: because many people grow up eating and enjoying meat but no longer think their taste buds are more important than an animal’s life.
@Seamus Murphy: it’s actually not that hard to understand really, for an intelligent adult. If you can’t figure it out, try Google. I’m not a vegetarian but I cannot understand why people get so annoyed on the subject. Each to their own.
@EillieEs:
The earth is a delicate ecosystem. Species have survived for billions of years because of this. Plants process sunlight, herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat herbivores. We all die and go into the ground to feed the plants. And around it goes.
Certain animals, cows sheep etc have only one purpose. It is not to grow up, go to university, get a job and settle down. It is to be eaten. be that by humans, wolves, lions, tigers etc.
Be thankful that you are on the top layer of the food chain and are unlikely to be another animal’s lunch. Go out have a nice juicy steak, or a leg of lamb or some rashers and sausages. They are all delicious and very good for you. Eat them knowing you are doing your bit for the earth.
Cow’s lives don’t matter.
@Feardorcha Ó Maolomhnaigh: leg of lamb, your making me hungry now
No gains then
I had planned on some Turkey and maybe a vegans as a side dish, but on reflection they would probably taste too bitter.
@Alan Currie: *maybe “some” vegans
Love vegans…just can’t eat a whole one though. (too bitter and twisted).
They sure will. Love winding up the vegans .
@JDB: do you even know the difference between vegans and vegetarians? The recipes are vegeterian not vegan
Bone broth is not vegetarian
Try some Brazilian beef, yummy.
Vegan stuff just upsets the stomach and the bowels, that’s the problem with it, no wonder their skinny as after 8 hours since eating it, its tries to make an escape in a most violent way. Mainly from bought vegetarian stuff done like burgers, mince or sausages???
@TamuMassif2019: whereas meat, on average, spends 3 days decomposing in your intestines. Also you seem to be another who doesnt know the difference between vegan and vegeterian.
@Conoroconnor: Vegans don’t touch any animal produce like milk and eggs but Vegetarians aren’t that fussy… I know the difference, just vegan was shorter to write as they both come from the same branch? Your digestive system works on a 24 hour cycle…
Nothing wrong with vegetarians as a lifestyle but why are so many just weird???
Nothing says Christmas like a good serving of nutritional yeast
@Neville Mc Carthy: Candida?
It’s funny how so many people get upset at the word “vegan”
have your say