The best vegetarian recipes of 2016
I've been cooking vegetarian in 2016. It's about climate change: meat-eating is a big part of our carbon footprint, and it's something we can change. So here I'm sharing some of the best veggie recipes I found this year. Most of them are not too complex, the point is everyday meals not dinner parties.
Note: you don't have to go full-vegan - phew. You can do meat-free Mondays, you can try Veganuary, you can give up beef, or whatever, it all makes a difference. It's true that vegans have the smallest carbon footprint but it's pretty unlikely we're all going to go that far, and a more vegetarian diet makes a big improvement. (Here's an article with some data about that...)
So here we go, the best vegetarian recipes of 2016 - as judged by a meat-eater! ;)
Spring
- Warm spiced cauliflower and chickpea salad with pomegranate seeds. Thanks to Kitty for this one ("We eat this a lot - with feta on top, and pitta bread and houmous on the side").
- Kale and rosemary flatbread
- Roasted broccoli with bulgar, dried cherry and pistachio (from Take One Veg) - delicious, decandent-tasting and puts broccoli in a new context, yet it's easy to put together, and all it needs is a bag of dried cherries added to your store-cupboard.
Summer
- Asparagus, pea, feta and mint salad - great combination.
- Pea, mozzarella & lemon tart (from Take One Veg) - wasn't quite as "speedy" as the recipe's name suggested (40 min when I did it...). But maybe it gets quicker once you get handier with the puff pastry. It was really nice, fresh-tasting.
Sweet onion and puy lentil stew - I was so impressed with this, one of those simple meals that if you do it well is really satisfying. The texture+flavour contrast from the onions on top is the key.- Grilled orange, carrot & halloumi (from "River Cottage Fruit") - ace, just an ace combination of three flavours, lightly dressed. Easy to make and the ingredients are not exotic. Really handy.
Autumn
Jackfruit "pulled pork". This is extremely handy - it fills a gap that a lot of veggy stuff doesn't, i.e. it's a big barbecue nom with a meaningful texture. Really all you need is to keep a tin of green jackfruit in your store-cupboard, it doesn't need anything else exotic. It's easy to cook (just a pan on a gentle heat for half an hour, really). (However, one tin of jackfruit feeds about me-and-a-quarter. If only we were perfectly size-matched...)- Big aubergine and lemon tagine - OH YEAH is really all I've got to say about this.
- Roast pumpkin and aubergine spaghetti
Winter
- Butternut squash toad-in-the-hole
Slow-roasted tomato lasagne (from Take One Veg) - great flavour, and easy to make - though the tomatoes take a while to slow-roast, so do note that it's slow even though really easy. Also note that you need loads of tomatoes, you'll be surprised. I was low on creme fraiche so I used half creme fraiche half greek yogurt, that worked fine and makes it a bit lighter.
These are all ones that were new discoveries. Of course there's plenty of standard stuff too. Anyway - pick a recipe, give it a go.