Our Vegan Easter Feast with Recipes

Our Easter celebration was a celebration of Spring, rebirth and renewal. I stayed up late Saturday night, hiding our naturally dyed wooden eggs and filling Iley’s basket with little gifts and treats. Well, I actually had no treats, so I stayed up even later and made some raw chocolate peanut butter date cups (recipe coming soon) and raw chocolate dried fruits and coconut bark to hide in a beautiful paper egg box I picked up from our local bookstore, Nantucket Bookworks – they have the best Easter gifts!

Papa requested cinnamon buns instead of hot cross buns so I converted the sourdough hot cross bun recipe for these, following the same method through bulk fermentation, then rolled out the dough, brushed it with maple syrup and a dash of olive oil and then sprinkled it with the fruits, cinnamon and nuts and rolled it up and sliced it into buns.

When morning arrived I was still unsure of the menu. I laid out the veggies and fruits and let them guide me. Roasted whole baby sweet potatoes-simple no brainer. Steamed artichokes in lemon and olive oil. Roasted asparagus and shallots. Endive leaves with a dollop of herbed homemade soy labneh with capers and olives. A luscious fresh fruit platter. Onion and herb sourdough foccaccia. And the star of the meal was a savory tofu and veggie rustic pie. In the end I made way too much food for our small gathering but we had yummy leftovers for breakfast the next day, so it was all worth it.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend with your loved ones! Happy Spring!

Some recipes from our meal are after the photos…

Vegan Easter Feast

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Endive~Labneh Cups

Ingredients

• 1 head of endive
• 1 cup soy labneh
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• handful of fresh herbs-parsley or dill
• pinch of sea salt
• 1 tablespoon of capers

Instructions

1. Separate leaves from endive and rinse and pat dry with a towel.
2. Mix together labneh, oil, herbs and salt. Spoon mixture into endive leaves. Top each with some capers.
3. Arrange the leaves in a sunburst pattern on a platter and fill the center with olives. Enjoy!

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Roasted Asparagus and Shallots

Ingredients

• 1 bunch of asparagus
• 1 shallot
• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• pinch of sea salt
• toasted slivered almonds (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425˚F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment (optional).

Wash asparagus stalks and break off tough ends to discard. (I like to break them off because they will break at the point where the tender part ends and the tough part begins.) You can also cut them off with a knife if you wish.

Peel and thinly slice shallot into rings. Toss asparagus and shallot in olive oil and salt.

Spread everything into one layer on baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes until asparagus just starts to brown and is fork tender. (Serve with toasted slivered almonds if you wish). Enjoy!

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Savory Thyme Pastry Crust

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose einkorn flour
• 1/2 cup vegan shortening/butter
• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• ice water
• 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder

Instructions

1. Whisk salt and thyme into flour in a mixing bowl. Cut shortening and oil into flour using your hands until you get a coarse crumbly mixture. Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring with a fork after each addition, until dough holds together when pressed in your palm.
2. Form dough into a disc. Roll out dough on a heavily floured surface to a 1/4" thick round. Roll up dough onto your rolling pin and transfer to a large tart/quiche baking dish. Do NOT trim excess dough hanging over the sides. This will be folded up over the filling, like a galette or crostata.
3. Once crust is folded over filling brush top of pastry with the milk and turmeric mixture to create a golden yellow crust when baked.
4. If not using dough right away. Wrap disc of dough up and refrigerate until ready to roll out.

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Sourdough Cinnamon Rolls

Ingredients

• 1 batch of sourdough enriched dough (from the sourdough hot cross bun recipe)
• 1 heaping cup of dried fruits-chopped if large-I used raisins, currants and dates
• 1 cup chopped nuts such as pecans or walnuts
• 1-1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

1. Follow the hot cross bun recipe through the bulk fermentation stage. Press out dough with your hands on a floured surface into a 16" x 8" rectangle. Brush dough with maple syrup and olive oil. Sprinkle cinnamon, dried fruit and nuts evenly over dough. Working from the longer edge, roll up dough into a log. Slice dough into eight 2" wide buns.
2. Line a cake pan with parchment paper coming up the sides. Arrange buns in the cake pan.
3. Cover with a damp tea towel or cling-fill and proof for about 1 hour at room temp or overnight in the fridge (allow them to come to room temp before baking). They should swell up and touch each other.
4. While buns proof preheat oven to 425˚F (220˚C). Bake for 20-25 minutes until they have puffed up and are golden browned. Remove from oven and cool on a rack.
5. Brush tops with a mixture of maple syrup and splash of orange juice and sprinkle tops with desiccated coconut flakes.

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Steamed Artichokes with Lemon + Olive Oil

Ingredients

• 2 large globe artichokes
• 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon olive oil pinch of sea salt

Instructions

1. Fill a medium bowl with cold water and the juice and rind from 1/2 of the lemon.
2. Trim outer layer of leaves from artichokes. Trim and peel stems. Working with one artichoke at a time, cut them into quarters, place quarters into the lemon water right away to keep them from browning. Use a small sharp knife to cut out the inedible furry and spiky bits from the center of the artichoke quarters being careful not to cut out the heart of the artichoke, then place them back into the lemon water.
3. Fill a sauce pan with 1/2" of water, cut and squeeze the other half of lemon into the pan. Throw the lemon rind in the pan too. Add artichokes, oil and salt to the pan. Bring the water to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Cover pot and simmer artichokes for 30 minutes until tender. (You can use a steamer basket if you have one too, so the artichokes don't touch the water).
4. Serve hot and be sure to get the most out of your artichokes by eating the leaves with your hands, sucking the tender bits from the bottom of each leaf.

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Whole Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients

• 1 petite sweet potato per serving

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425˚F.
2. Line a baking sheet with tin foil.
3. Wash sweet potatoes. Pierce thickest parts of the sweet potatoes with a fork. Lay sweet potatoes on the baking sheet leaving space between each one.
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes until sweet potatoes are fork tender, and start to split open. Serve hot with topping of your choice.

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Rustic Savory Tofu-Veggie Pie

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups extra firm tofu
• 1/2 cup soy labneh
• 1 medium carrot
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 1 teaspoon all purpose seasoning of choice (no-salt)
• 4-6 porcini mushrooms
• 1 shallot
• 1/2 of large red pepper
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• pinch of sea salt
• pinch of black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon all purpose seasoning
• 1 cup fresh shelled sweet peas (can use frozen too)
• handful of parsley leaves chopped

Instructions

1. Mince carrot, onion and garlic in a food processor. Add tofu and labneh along with oil, salt and seasonings. Process until mixture is smooth and creamy. Set aside (note: you can substitute labneh with more tofu and a splash of coconut milk).
2. Slice mushrooms, shallot, pepper and onion. Sauté the sliced veggies in olive oil, salt and seasonings until lightly browned. Transfer veggies to a mixing bowl. Add peas, parsley and tofu mixture. Use a rubber spatula to fold everything together.
3. Add filling to pie shell. Fold overhanging pastry over filling leaving center of pie exposed. Add a handful of cherry tomatoes tossed lightly in olive oil and thyme leaves to the center of pie. Brush top of pastry with the non-dairy milk-turmeric wash.
4. Bake at 425˚F for about 40-45 minutes until crust is golden brown.

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Links:

homemade soy labneh tutorial

sourdough hot cross buns

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I hope you enjoy these recipes! There are several simple and easy ones which come in handy for springtime gatherings and dinner parties. Please post your pics with #fareisle so I can see your creations! Until next time… Happy Eating!