Menu for a Vegan Dinner Party

The best-tasting vegan food is food that just happens to be vegan. Perfectly ripe tomatoes with olive oil and sea salt, pasta and bean soup, sauteéd spinach with a squeeze of lemon are some of the most delicious tastes a mouth can experience. That’s why, when I wanted to make a dinner  to serve to some vegan friends, I looked at foods that needed minimal substitutions — in other words dishes that were from their very beginnings built around the flavors of vegetables and grains — not anything that needed mock-animal protein to become an ersatz versions of another dish. I liked Laurie Colwin‘s idea of serving steamed vegetables and green sauce but it seemed, ultimately, too Spartan.

There’s a kind-of Italian theme going here — the menu starts off with an hors d’eouvre to serve with drinks that is one of the best: smashed white bean and rosemary crostini. If you’ve never had them you are in for a treat. The crostini benefit from the alchemical reaction that erupts when you involve olive oil and garlic and rosemary over heat. They are perfect with a kir or a glass of prosecco. It is always wise to make too many of them. The main dish is butternut squash and sage ravioli, an arugula and beet salad on the side, and then a banana cake drizzled in chocolate for dessert.

This is food to linger over.

Menu for a Vegan Dinner Party               for six people

• Smashed white bean and rosemary crostini
• Butternut squash and sage ravioli
• Arugula and beet salad
• Banana cake with drizzled chocolate

Smashed White Bean and Rosemary Crostini:

• 1 baguette
• 1 large clove of garlic cut in half
• good olive oil for drizzling
• 1 can cannellini beans (white beans)
• 2 cloves of garlic, sliced
• 2 Tablespoons canola oil
• salt and pepper
• red wine vinegar (splash)
• 2 sprigs of rosemary

1 – Slice the baguette into little toasts, spread them on a baking sheet, and bake in a 350 oven for 10 minutes (until they are lightly toasted.) Rub with garlic half and drizzle them with olive oil.

2 – Open and drain the can of cannellini beans. In a large frying pan over a medium heat saute the garlic in canola oil until it is just golden. Add the can of beans, salt and pepper and stir, and cook for about 5 minutes. Stir in a splash of red wine vinegar and then smash the beans with the back of a fork.

3 – Spread the smashed beans on the baguette toasts and top with a needle or two of rosemary.

Butternut Squash and Sage Ravioli:

This is the one part of the menu that has some substitutions. You’ll need a butter-like spread — I used Earth Balance — and some medium-firm tofu. The other ingredient that is crucial here for ease of preparation are wonton wrappers. You have to look carefully when you buy them, though, because some have egg in them and vegans don’t do eggs. If you want to make your own here’s a recipe from Vegweb. However, this process is so much easier with pre-made wonton wrappers that it’s worth hunting them down (at a health food store, or Asian-foods grocer).

For Filling:

• 2 pound butternut squash, halved lengthwise, seeded
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground sage
• 4 Tablespoons vegan butter substitute
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 ounces medium-soft tofu
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil, and more to serve

• 60 wonton wrappers

1 — Pre-heat oven to 425. Put squash on a lightly oiled baking tin, flesh side down and roast for approximately 40 minutes, until flesh is soft. When it cools, scoop it into a large bowl.

2 — While squash is roasting, prepare onions. In a large frying pan melt 2 Tablespoons of the butter substitute and fry onions with sage for approximately ten minutes until the onions are soft and not colored. Season with salt and pepper, add minced garlic and cook for another five minutes.

3 — Add onion/sage mixture, 2 Tablespoons butter substitute, 1 Tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper, and tofu to the mashed butternut squash. Mix thoroughly so that all the flavors get spread around and the tofu is crumbled. If you are preparing ahead of time you can leave the mixture in the fridge to rest until you are ready.

4 — To make ravioli take a wonton wrapper and mound one tablespoon of the filling in the center. Lightly brush the the edges of the wrapper with water and then press a second wrapper over the first, pressing down around the filling to force out the air and seal the edges. If you want you can trim the dough but I like it square shaped. Transfer the ravioli to a dry kitchen towel.

5 — When you are ready to cook, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook ravioli in batches of four or five, until they are tender and rise to the surface, about six or seven minutes. Be careful not to cook too many of them at once — they will clump together!

6 — Serve with olive oil drizzled over them.

Simple Banana Cake with Chocolate Splatter

This is a delicious, light-tasting cake that you drizzle melted semi-sweet chocolate over. It’s great the next morning for breakfast, too.

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 4 ripe bananas
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
• 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1 — pre-heat oven to 350. Prepare an 8-inch cake tin by rubbing with canola oil and then covering the bottom with a parchment paper circle.

2 — Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl.

3 — Beat together sugar and oil, then mash in bananas. Stir in water and vanilla. Add gently stirring to the flour mixture. Add pecans if you want to use them.

4 — Spread batter into an 8-inch, prepared pan. Bake for around an hour and ten minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Let cool in pan.

5 — Melt chocolate in a bowl: either microwave on high for 1 minute or melt over double boiler. When cake is cooled, remove from pan out on a plate and drizzle melted chocolate all over.

Cooking Notes:

• You can make the ravioli the day before. Just put them in layers of paper towels and put them in the fridge. Or, you can make the ravioli stuffing the day before and then assemble the ravioli before guests arrrive.
• The banana cake improves with a day of sitting.