Shavuot menu: the parve version

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, dairy meals on Shavuot are not possible or appealing for everyone.  But one can still avoid meat (treif and otherwise) with a little imagination.  Here is a parve meal that should prove satisfying, without the dairy content.

Menu
Lentil soup
Vegetarian shepherd’s pie
Broccoli with olive oil and garlic
Spinach salad with toasted hazelnuts
Parve cheesecake

For the lentil soup, coarsely chop two medium onions and about six medium carrots.  Sauté the onions in about two tablespoons of canola oil until translucent.  Add the carrots and stir to coat with the onions.  Add 1½ cups of dried lentils (sorted, stones removed), seven cups of water, and ½ cup of rice (I use the long, black Canadian wild rice).  Simmer covered for about 40 minutes, until the lentils are soft and the rice is cooked.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I developed a recipe for shepherd’s pie while working the food bar in a pub in Cambridge, England.  I learned that what most people call shepherd’s pie is actually “cottage pie,” the former being made with ground lamb or mutton, and the latter with ground beef.  This one is neither, so call it what you will.  I usually start by making the mashed potato topping.  In America, I found potatoes that boiled gracefully, but not in Israel.  The ones here disintegrate, so I bake six large ones at 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius) for about an hour, let them cool, then peel and mash them with a dash of soy milk, about ¼ cup of canola margarine, and salt and pepper to taste.  Next, brown about a pound of vegetarian ground (thawed, if frozen) with a little oil, breaking it into small bits with a spoon.  Using a packet of vegetarian brown gravy mix, add the water (usually a cup) and sprinkle the powder in a little at a time, stirring constantly.  When the gravy begins to thicken, add about half a bag of frozen mixed vegetables straight out of the freezer.  (If you’re not lazy like me and want to chop and par-cook fresh vegetables, kol hakavod.)  Stir to incorporate.  Pour this mixture into the bottom of a deep pie dish, and spread mashed potato over the top.  At this point you can cover the cooled dish with foil and refrigerate.  Before serving, place on a hot plata for about an hour and a half, or in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 degrees F.

My favorite way to prepare broccoli these days is to make a sauce of olive oil and garlic cloves to accompany it.  Steam fresh broccoli (for about 7 minutes) and let cool completely in a colander.  If serving the next day, store in a bag or container in single layers with paper towel between; this prevents the moisture from making the broccoli mushy.  Break apart and skin an entire head of garlic, just trimming the bottoms of the cloves.  Heat about ¾ cup of olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the garlic cloves and cover, letting them fry in the oil.  Check every minute or two, tilting and shaking the pan to fry the garlic evenly.  When the garlic is evenly browned, remove from heat.  Let cool, then store in a separate container.  To serve, let the broccoli warm to room temperature, then toss with the oil and garlic mixture.

There are plenty of delicious spinach salads out there.  This one happens to have caught my fancy because of my love for toasted hazelnuts (called “filberts”) in my native Oregon.  Start by toasting about ½ cup shelled hazelnuts on a baking sheet at 275 degrees Fahrenheit (80 degrees Celsius) for 20-30 minutes or until skins crack.  To remove the skins, rub nuts while warm in a rough dish towel.  Cool and store in an airtight container if making in advance.  (To chop, I put them in a small ziplock bag and beat them with the dorsal side of a heavy knife or cleaver.)  To make the dressing, combine the following ingredients:
2 T. olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
1 T. Dijon mustard
2 T. honey
1 t. Worcestershire
½ t. salt
¼ t. pepper
Wash a pound of fresh spinach (baby spinach works best in the States; the spinach sold fresh in Israel is all very tender) and place in a salad bowl.  Add ½ cup of Bacos and chopped hazelnuts.  Add dressing and toss well.  Garnish with sliced or chopped hard-boiled eggs.

This cheesecake recipe was published on the Shemeshlist (the Beit Shemesh chat forum) after Shavuot 2007 and utilizes the most innovative advance in vegetarian technology: Tofutti.  For the base, either crush up some biscuits, mix with margarine and press into the base of a tin, or use a ready-made graham pie crust.  Or don’t have a base!  Mix 1 tub of Tofutti Cream Cheese, 1 tub Tofutti Sour Cream ( if not available use another tub of Tofutti cream cheese), 2 eggs, and ½ C. sugar (or ¾ C. sugar depending on how sweet you like it) with a standing or hand mixer until smooth, then pour into base.  Bake in a 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) oven for about 50 minutes.  It shouldn’t get too brown on the top, only a bit round the edges.

Of course, if you aren’t hosting anyone for Shavuot, you can always take advantage of being allowed to cook on the holiday and just enjoy a proper brunch.  This year, the Crunch family isn’t having guests for Shavuot, so I think I’ll haul out the pan that makes heart-shaped pancakes and delight the Crunch girls with pancakes, maple syrup, vegetarian sausage patties, and fruit salad.  When they get older and—b’ezrat Hashem—a little more sophisticated, perhaps we’ll have shakshuka (eggs poached in spicy tomato sauce), Spanish tortilla with salsa, or scrambled eggs and home fries.

Chag Shavuot sameach.

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