Planted Based Menu

This month we have been talking a lot about vegan and vegetarian eating. It seems to be something that is becoming extremely popular and we are kind of loving it! A few members of our EC family have recently been experimenting with this style of eating and it’s been quite the challenge. Every day we create food and menus that are very meat focused with only a few options for those that choose to eat vegetarian so this week our blog is highlighting a few vegetarian + vegan recipes.

Our chef’s don’t typically cook from recipes, but our Creative Culinary Director, Shawn Doolin, always loves to gather inspiration from cook books he stumbles upon. This first recipe is from the Plenty More cook book written by Yotam Ottolenghi of Jerusalem. The images throughout this book are stunning. Fresh, vibrant and delicious.

Tomato + Roasted Lemon Salad
2 Medium Lemons
8 Sage leaves
2.5 cups of baby tomatoes
Flat leaf parsley
Mint Leaves
Seeds from 1 Pomegranate
Pomegranate Molasses
Small thinly sliced Red Onions
Salt and Pepper to Taste

The next book Shawn gathered inspiration from is the Salad for President cook book. These pages are full of dishes far different than your average leafy green salads. Author, Julie Sherman, presents new ways to spice up your brunch menu. Salads that great for special occasions and ways to present a salad for your main course.

Shaved Baby Artichoke Salad + Marinated Mushrooms
Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice
1 tbs of Red Wine Vinegar
Finely chopped fresh Parsley
Chopped Fresh Oregano
1 Clove Garlic Smashed
White Mushrooms Trimmed + Sliced
1 pound of fresh baby artichokes
4 Celery Ribs thinly sliced
High Quality Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Add Shaved Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese is you want!

This last plant based feature is from a tasting we recently did for a couple who wants an entirely vegetarian menu. For the salad course we used the idea of a Thali plate (see cover photo) so that we could offer three smaller salads on one plate.  Although the Thali plate is from the Indian culture we used seasonal and local ingredients to create three fall salads in one.  We wanted to incorporate our global flavors with the seasonal ingredients like the roasted delicate squash and farro into vegetarian dishes.  We used a variety of nuts so that we could still provide some nutrients and vitamins that would otherwise be missing in the protein-less dish.  Inspiration was to come up with a plant based entree for the vegetarian wedding.  We were trying to accomplish a design and presentation into flavorful and not boring vegetarian dish.  The crispiness of the brique dough around the root vegetables, blended with the creamy richness of the risotto and the smokiness of the grilled vegetables.  We shaped that into a purse so that we could give the presentation some height and depth.