Tag: vegetarian

Vegetarian Christmas menu: can be done – Italian Cuisine

Festive lunches and dinners must be rich and abundant, even for those who have decided not to consume either meat or fish. Here are so many ideas

Do you think that a vegetarian Christmas menu is it impossible? But no, will not disappoint you: here are our proposals.

Basic rules for a vegetarian Christmas menu

If you have to think about a vegetarian diner remember that there are no problems for eggs and cheese, but make sure they are prepared with vegetable rennet. As for special types of bread, focaccias, desserts, fried foods, however, mind you lard is not used, ingredient of animal origin.

The vegetarian Christmas appetizers

A cheese platter details with walnuts, honeys and jams will also satisfy omnivores, as well as the classics croutons or bruschetta with vegetable creams. The bell reinforcement salad it adapts well to vegetarian needs, in fact it will be enough to omit anchovies. And the very simple ones vegetable and cheese omelettes, cooked in muffin molds, they will be a finger food suitable even for a standing dinner. To prepare, instead, gods mini-flan colored blend the béchamel, the one remaining from the lasagne, with pumpkin or spinach and parmesan (or pecorino). A few walnut kernels and off in the oven, possibly in a bain-marie (that is, putting the cups in a baking pan filled for ente of boiling water). Remove from the oven and serve with one Taleggio fondue and porcini mushrooms. This same dressing will look great even with della grilled polenta.

First vegetarians for a delicious Christmas

Don't give up on passatelli if you have a vegetarian dinner: prepare some good vegetable broth and they will be excellent anyway. You can pick any with risotto: radicchio and red wine; with prosecco; pears, walnuts and gorgonzola; pumpkin and balsamic vinegar; hazelnuts and castelmagno. Are they enough for you as ideas? Even the lasagna, always loved, they can be prepared either with a simple tomato sauce or with bechamel and vegetables: leeks or artichokes give excellent results, for example.

Seconds of the vegetarian Christmas menu

If you don't want to resort to cheeses even here the ideas are very many and surely they will be appreciated also by those who usually don't give up the roast. The Vegetable Strudel he is rich and greedy, but also i pleurotus mushrooms (the huge ones, also called elephant ears) breaded or grilled they give a lot of satisfaction. For a second chic, perhaps a single portion, prepare one cocotte with at the base one slice of polenta, roasted or sautéed vegetables and then completed with an egg, bake the time to thicken the albumen and serve with one cheese fondue and maybe, some truffle flakes.

Vegetarian she becomes a butcher after eating a hamburger – Italian Cuisine

Vegetarian she becomes a butcher after eating a hamburger. It looks like a joke, but it really happened.

Tammi Jonas she became a vegetarian when she was 19, in the 70s, after being shocked by the revelations of Animal Liberation, a historic book by Peter Singer that revealed the mistreatment of farm animals. From that moment Tammi had followed one vegetarian diet for a good 10 years, even overcoming two pregnancies without any problem.

The problems came to the third pregnancy, during which he began to suffer from iron deficiency: after trying to remedy it with no success, he took courage and decided to eat a hamburger. From there Tammi began to replenish the red meat in his diet once a week, making sure to consume exclusively meat from ethical breeding, or places where animals are not treated cruelly.

"I had never thought it immoral to eat animal flesh. I have always been aware of my place in the food chain, but I always thought it was unethical to treat animals cruelly, to enclose them in stables without allowing them to go out, breathe fresh air ".

From that need his life changed drastically. After starting to consume chicken and pork, the desire to find an ethical solution had intensified more and more, pushing her to move to the south east of Australia with her husband to open a small farm, the Jonai Farms.

"I feel more justified in eating meat when I know that animals have not suffered pain, they have not been afraid and have lived peacefully" Tammi confessed to the Daily Mail Australia.
"Hats off to those who do not want to deal with cattle breeding, but what we are trying to do is restore the landscapes and do a better job than those who try to prepare thevegan burger impossible

30 years of Joia with Pietro Leemann, the first starred vegetarian in Italy – Italian Cuisine

Turns 30 years old Joia, the vegetarian restaurant of Pietro Leemann, the first vegetarian chef in the world to receive the Michelin star in 1996 and, still today, the only one of its kind to show off the coveted recognition in our country.

Three decades have passed since Leemann, already established after working in some of the most important kitchens in Italy, decided to embark on his journey back from a trip to the East.
"It was the beginning of a great adventure," recalls the chef. But also a big bet in the Milan of the eighties: "Back then, there were almost only Tuscan restaurants in the city. There was only one Japanese in my street (Panfilo Castaldi, behind Porta Venezia, ed) just a couple of places: today, at least 30 ".

In these years the Milanese gastronomic panorama has definitely changed, as has the sensitivity of customers. "Once upon a time, traditional vegetarian dishes were for those who could not afford meat. Today they become a choice. If at the beginning the public approached the green world in search of healthier food, now conscious choices are dominating made of environment and sustainability. And ordinary people are revealed later than restaurateurs, still slow to incorporate this philosophy, with the fine exception of gourmet venues ".

THE DECALOGUE
From these considerations was born one of the many projects that sees Pietro Leemann at the forefront in spreading what is a real philosophy of life: it is his "Decalogue for a healthy and sustainable cuisine" which, together with two young athletes, Oliviero Alotto and Alessandro Ippolito, is taking around the great restaurants in Italy.
First, Pietro (in an electric car), Oliviero and Alessandro reached Enrico Crippa at the Piazza Duomo in Alba, Norbert Niederkofler at the Rosa Alpina of San Cassiano, in Alta Badia, e Massimiliano Alajmo in Le Calandre di Rubano (PD): "traditional" restaurateurs but among the most attentive to the plant world.

With them, they shared the set of rules that goes from having always on the menu at least four vegetarian and / or vegetable proposals, with attention to seasonality and territory, to favoring the organic (all the ingredients in Joia's kitchen are organic) and small producers, from respecting animals and fish, opposing the logic of intensive farming, reducing plastic and energy consumption: a set of good practices that everyone should follow.

"It is important that change also takes place in the restaurant world: the kitchen is a formidable tool". This is demonstrated by the many young chefs who came out of his brigade to open new realities in very obvious contexts. The last two examples, which Leemann likes to remember, are Fabrizio Marino of the Maggese restaurant in San Miniato, in the heart of the most "carnivorous" Tuscany, e Rie Otsuka of Orterie, tavern in the small town of Stazzona, in the province of Sondrio.

DO SCHOOL
What comes out of the Joia is an articulated system that makes the training one of his hinges. With this spirit the was born Joia Academy in via Felice Casati, an institute for the dissemination of vegetarian culture open to professionals and amateurs alike.
And, above all, his most ambitious project, the "Code of vegetarian cuisine" (Giunti, 90 euro), a volume of almost 700 pages which is much more than a recipe book: an essential tool to create a "green" cuisine of the highest quality, respectful of living beings and the planet, which addresses every aspect: from techniques to equipment, from ingredients to scientific and philosophical insights, with 40 dishes signed by the chef and an appendix that brings together traditional Italian and oriental recipes.
"Because the kitchen can be theorized, but then it is also necessary to know how to put it into practice", says Leemann. "To make it become a source of happiness".

Francesca Romana Mezzadri
Photo Lucio Elio
October 2019