Between ploughing through the mall with a list in hand, cookie exchanges, fighting the cat for your ribbon back and dealing with pop versions of every Christmas song ever, the holidays are a stressful and hectic time. Mark and I have only a few days off for Christmas this year and we will be celebrating 3 Christmases in 3 days. First stop is my mother’s house which is a very full one this year after getting married in September, Christmas Day we are celebrating with Mark’s family in which my tolerance for alcohol will be tested since those Scots can drink and then Boxing Day will be at my favourite not-related family the Crawford’s where I will shovel in every baked good I can eat. Despite all of the chaos, I will say at the end that it went by too quickly.

Mark and I wanted to celebrate a Christmas dinner with our roommate Simon since he will be away for the holidays as well. Since they were my testers for my Thanksgiving menu, I wanted to make something else for Christmas besides mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce. I asked my friends and coworkers about their Christmas dinners with family and almost every Italian said they were so excited for their lasagna holiday meals. I had never made a lasagna for a holiday and this is where I got the idea for an Italian inspired Christmas dinner. I knew it would be tricky since a lot of Italian-American food has a ton of dairy and meat but thankfully all who I asked were very helpful in leading me to great meal ideas.

I wanted to include a day ahead preparation and shopping list inspired by Fine Cooking magazines menu layouts. We could all use a little more help around this time right?

Wherever you go on your holiday, I hope it is a safe and happy occasion! And I hope you don’t get stuck at the kids table like I did last year, I know more about Dora the Explorer than I have ever wanted to. Happy Holidays from Sprouts and Chocolate!

Shopping List

 Dry Stuff

• 2 boxes whole-wheat lasagna noodles
• 2 cans artichoke hearts in water
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• Kosher salt
• Black Peppercorns
• 2-28 ounce cans whole tomatoes in their juices (I used Utopia Organic)
• Crusty Italian Loaf
• Plastic Wrap
• Tinfoil
• Parchment Paper

Bulk

• ½ cup pine nuts
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
• 1/4 cup sesame seeds
• ¼ teaspoon chili flakes

Produce

• 3 heads of garlic
• 2 large yellow onions
• 2 green zucchinis
• 1 globe eggplant
• 2 red bell peppers
• 1 package of baby arugula
• 1 bunch of flat leaf parsley
• 1 bunch of thyme
• 2 pounds Portobello mushroom caps
• 1 bunch broccoli rapini (I used Andy Boy since there was no organic brand available at the store)
• 2 heads of fennel preferably with the stems and fronds attached

Specialty

• 1 package extra firm tofu
• Tub of Earth Balance Traditional
• Carton of unsweetened almond milk, at least 750mL
• Dry white wine

The Day Before

•  Roast the garlic head (How to Roast Garlic)
• Make the breadcrumbs and store in an airtight container
• Make the béchamel and tomato sauce
• Roast the bell peppers (How to Roast Bell Peppers)
• Make the Parmesan and store in an airtight container
• Make ice

How to Make Homemade Breadcrumbs

• 4 inch thick slice of Crusty Italian bread

Cut off the bottom crust off the slice and discard. Cut the bread into cubes and add the food processor. Process until no large cubes remain, a few small ones are fine. Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add the breadcrumbs and lightly toast. Take off heat and allow breadcrumbs to cool. Transfer to an airtight container until ready to use.

Vegan Béchamel Sauce

Makes 2 cups

• 3 tablespoons Earth Balance Butter
• 1 medium onion, diced (about 1 cup)
• 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
• 3 cups unsweetened almond milk, room temperature
• 1 head roasted garlic (How to Roast Garlic Heads), peeled, smashed with a fork to create a paste
• 2 bay leaves
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• Pinch of ground nutmeg

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat until bubbling. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequent for 5 minutes until the onions are softened but not browned. Add the flour, cook, whisking constantly for 2 minutes (this cooks off any raw flour taste). In a steady stream, slowly add the milk and whisk constantly as you pour the milk in. It will bubble quite a bit so be careful. Bring the mixture to a rapid simmer over medium high heat and whisk in the garlic head, bay leaves, salt, pepper and yeast. Turn down heat to medium low and simmer for 8 minutes, whisking occasionally so it doesn’t burn and discolour your sauce. Take off the heat, remove the bay leaves and transfer to a medium bowl. Allow the sauce to cool slightly and place a piece of plastic wrap right against its surface. Refrigerate until ready to use.

I swear I clean my stovetop. I’m just messy. 

Basic Smooth Tomato Sauce

**If you find the sauce too thick when you are about to assemble your lasagna, add a little bit of pasta cooking water to the sauce until desired consistency**

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large onion, diced (about 2 cups)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• ¼ teaspoon or less crushed red chili flakes
• 2-28 ounce cans whole tomatoes, pureed in a blender
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

Heat the oil in a medium sautee pan over medium heat until shimmering. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally until onions have softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add tomato puree, salt and pepper and simmered until thickened, about 15 minutes.  Add the parsley. Allow to cool slightly and transfer to storage container. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Vegan Parmesan Cheese

•  ¼ cup toasted sesame seeds
• ¼ cup nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt

Add all to a blender and process until a semi-fine powder. You will have some whole seeds left. Store in an air tight container at room temperature until ready to use.

The Day Of:

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Like all lasagna, this recipe is a time consuming process: making the sauces, roasting the vegetables, cooking the noodles etc. I can see why people only make lasagna around the holidays. As time consuming as it can be, lasagna is one of those great comfort foods. Almost every mother I have ever met has their own recipe and their children always think their mother’s lasagna is the best. Before I made this recipe, truth was I did not really like lasagna all that much. The only lasagna to wow me was my best friend Sarah’s vegetable lasagna (and this was when I was a meat eater and did not believe vegetables could be as delicious as meat). She is from an Italian family and almost 5 years ago I was invited to her house for Christmas dinner. As the pasta course (1 course of 7) she made the most memorable lasagna of my life. The table fell quiet (which is a rarity at such events) as we all savored in silence every bite of her dish. I wanted to veganize the lasagna I remembered so fondly. I called her up recently and asked her what she put in it. She couldn’t remember since she is such a great chef and did not follow a recipe. Also she found it strange (yet flattering) that I remembered a dish she made years ago. Now I was on the mission to recreate this dish from memory.

The lasagna itself wasn’t too difficult to remember off hand but it took some head scratching to come up with a vegan Béchamel sauce. I was worried that using almond milk, the Béchamel would come out too sweet but this was until I looked at the back of a dairy milk carton. Dairy milk has a lot of sugar in it; sugar content I hadn’t even noticed before while my unsweetened almond milk has none. The onions and roasted garlic are really important in this vegan version because it takes away from the nuttiest of the milk. Even if you don’t like the texture of onions all the much, I highly recommend using them then straining them out of the sauce. The Béchamel adds a lot of creaminess to the dish in substitution for the cheese; however, the Béchamel can be omitted if you don’t want to make two sauces. I have only tried this recipe with unsweetened almond milk.

Roasting the vegetables takes a little bit more time but I would not put raw vegetables into the lasagna since it will be quite watery. Salting the water out of the vegetables takes longer and doesn’t add any roasted flavour. Do not reheat roasted vegetables for this recipe because they turn slightly leathery.

Ricotta and Pesto Layer

•  1 brick organic tofu
• 3 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 1 cup lightly packed baby arugula
• 1 cup fresh parsley leaves, stems are too tough
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper

Cut the tofu in half, lengthwise and wrap the tofu in a double layer of paper towels. Place in between two baking sheets and press with two heavy books or cans. Press for about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, set a nonstick skillet over medium heat and toast the pine nuts, about 5 minutes, flipping occasionally. Once toasted, set nuts aside. In the same skillet, add the unpeeled garlic, flipping occasionally until the skins are brown and spotty. Set garlic aside until cool enough to peel.

Once most of the water is out of the tofu, crumble half of the brick into a medium bowl, to a ricotta cheese texture. Add the other half of the brick along with the rest of the ingredients including the peeled garlic to a food processor, process until fully combined and bright green.

Add the green tofu to the white tofu and stir until combined. Cover with plastic wrap so the wrap is pressing against the tofu. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Roasted Vegetable Layers

•  1 eggplant, cubed + 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + ½ teaspoon kosher salt + ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a heavy duty baking sheet or broiler pan with parchment paper. Toss all ingredients in a bowl until the eggplant is well coated. Roast for 30 minutes, flipping halfway through.

•  2 zucchinis, halved lengthwise, cut down the middle and chopped+ 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil + ½ teaspoon kosher salt + ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper

Keep oven at  400 degrees. Line a heavy duty baking sheet or broiler pan with parchment paper. Toss all ingredients in a bowl until the zucchini is well coated. Roast for 30 mins minutes, flipping halfway through. The zucchini and eggplant can be done together if you have a large enough pan.

•  2 pounds Portobello mushroom caps, stemmed, degilled and cubed + 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil + ½ teaspoon kosher salt + ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a heavy duty baking sheet or broiler pan with parchment paper. Toss all ingredients in a bowl until mushrooms are well coated. Roast for 30-32 minutes, flipping halfway through.

• 2 can artichoke hearts in water, drained, rinsed and patted dry + 2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil + ½ teaspoon kosher salt + ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Line a heavy duty baking sheet or broiler pan with parchment paper. Toss all ingredients in a bowl until the artichokes are well coated. Roast for 20-25 minutes, flipping halfway through.

Noodles

•  2 boxes whole-wheat lasagna noodles, about 12-15 noodles

In a large stock pot, add 8 cups of water and 1 tablespoon kosher salt and bring to rolling boil. Add the noodles, turn down to medium high and cook until al dente about 13 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water just in case the tomato sauce is too thick. Wash a dish or two since you have probably dirtied every bowl in your house while you wait for the noodles to cook.

Assemble

 Heat oven to 425 degrees. I assembled mine in a 13×9 Pyrex dish. Warm the sauces in separate saucepans over medium-low heat. Add pasta water to the tomato sauce if it becomes too thick.

Bottom Layer: 1/2 cup each tomato and béchamel

Noodles

Ricotta-Pesto Layer

Noodles

Eggplant and Zucchini Layer with 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce

Noodles

Mushroom and Artichoke Layer with 1 1/2 cups Béchamel Sauce

Noodles

Top with remaining tomato sauce

Cover with lightly oiled tin foil, oil side facing the noodles. Bake for 40 minutes, remove the foil and cook for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool the lasagna for 10 minutes; sprinkle with nutritional parm, cut into pieces and serve. While lasagna is baking, prep fennel and breadcrumb topping. Turn down the oven to 400 after you take out the lasagna.

Braised Fennel Gratin

I have had fennel a few times but usually on a salad and never cooked. I can handle it in small doses and only when sliced paper-thin. To me fennel has a black licorice taste to it. I asked a few of my Italian friends what their family’s serve at Christmas and my friend described this recipe to me. She said it was a dish with no leftovers since it was almost everyone’s first pick. I was hesitant since I thought it would taste like Earl Grey tea that you let steep too long. This dish proved me wrong. The sharp anise taste almost disappeared and transformed into a buttery and slightly sweet side dish. You can substitute panko for homemade breadcrumbs but I wanted to recreate the dish I was described.

Topping

•  1 cup homemade breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons, melted + 1 tablespoon Earth Balance butter for the pan
• ¼ cup nutritional Parmesan

Fennel

• 2 medium-sized fennel heads, cores removed and cut into ½ inch thick strips, fronds minced

• 2 tablespoons Earth Balance butter (I tried it with olive oil but it did not have the taste I wanted)
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup dry white wine
• 1 teaspoon fresh minced thyme
• A pinch of fresh cracked black pepper

Melt the butter in a medium saucepot or skillet (something you own with a lid) over medium heat until bubbly. Add the fennel and coat with the butter. Add salt, wine, thyme and minced fronds, cover and cook for 13-15 minutes.

Try not to peek since the steam is needed to cook the fennel. Uncover and very gently stir the fennel, cover again and cook for another 10 minutes until the fennel is very tender and a little sweet. Uncover and allow the fennel to caramelize in the pan, cooking for 5 minutes. While it is caramelizing, mixed the melted Earth Balance, breadcrumbs and nutritional Parm together until well combined. Transfer fennel to the prepared loaf pan and top with the breadcrumb mixture. Bake for 12 minutes at 400 degrees until the topping is golden brown. While fennel is baking, make the rapini.

Sautéed Broccoli Rapini with Red Pepper and Pine Nuts

The first time I made this, it was the bitterest tasting green I have ever tried. I did not take the advice of an Italian grandma who said I needed to blanch it first. I do not recommend being a lazy daisy and skipping the blanching. Blanching takes out the serious bite that rapini has.

• 1 bunch broccoli rapini
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• Ice cubes
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/3 cup roasted red pepper, cut into thin strips (How to Make Roasted Bell Peppers)
• 4 tablespoons pine nuts
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

In a large pot, add 8 cups of water and 2 teaspoons salt and bring to rolling boil. While waiting for the water to boil, cut the stalk ends off the rapini and discard. Roughly chop the rapini and rinse with cool water to remove any dirt or sand.

In a large bowl, add ice cubes and cold water until ¾ of the bowl is filled. Add rapini to the pot and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain and immediately add the rapini to the ice water bowl. Drain the rapini from the ice water bowl and transfer to a salad spinner. Spin until most of the water is out of the rapini.

In a large non-stick skillet, add the olive oil over medium heat until shimmering. Add the garlic, red pepper and pine nuts and cook for 2-3 minutes, watching it very carefully. Burnt garlic and nuts are very bitter. Turn up the heat to medium-medium high and add the rapini and salt, cooking for 2 minutes until well coated in the mixture. Serve immediately.

Now pour yourself a glass of wine. You deserve it.