HELP - A vegan guest coming over for brunch!

So we're having a few of my wife's friends over for brunch this weekend. One couple is strict Kosher (which I think we can handle) but the one of her friends is vegan. THAT'S where you awesome people come through for me!

Any good ideas/recipes for a vegan brunch item (or 2)?

Doesn't strict Kosher require pretty much having two sets of everything in the kitchen to keep from mixing meat & dairy? I doubt most Gentile kitchens qualify as strict Kosher, but I assume your guests know that.

For vegan lunches, I've always been happy with a nice penne all'arrabiata (or a puttanesca variant which includes olives and capers. Normally, I'd also add anchovies, but for a vegan, just skip it and it'll be fine).

Another one of my favorite recipes is Rick Bayless's Swiss chard tacos with carmelized onions. Obviously, make sure the tortillas you use do not contain lard, and you can skip the queso fresco without ill effect. I simply LOVE this recipe, with or without the cheese, and I'm a pretty avid meat eater.

You could always feed the vegan... to the kosher couple

Just picked up this video off CNN; it's no joke and I do not present it for laughs or as humorous commentary on Veganism, but I'm guessing this topic may come up at dinner.

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player. ... e.baby.wsb

Hi,

For the Kosher people, serve them on paper plates with disposable plastic forks and knives. I got this pointer long ago from a friend who is a Rabbi's wife. She had also recommended going to a kosher deli overseen by a Rabbi for food advice.

For the Vegan, fruit salad? Oatmeal made with water?

My sister invited her vegetarian professor and wife for Thanksgiving. They arrived having already eaten. My sister was so peeved, she sent them home with leftovers including a good chunk of turkey. I'll bet none of the food ever reached their home.

Good luck and do report back on the outcome.

Regards,

Try leafing through the Canyon Ranch Cookbook at a bookstore. It's overpriced and too coffee table-y, suggesting that its real purpose is for showing off its chic healthiness rather than actually using it in the kitchen, but it has a fair number of breakfast items in it and my experience is that most of them are pretty flavorful (especially when you add back in the egg and butter they took out, but that's beside the point).

Here is a recipe for vegan veggie lasagna but something like spinach florentine would work too for your vegans.

http://www.recipezaar.com/115553

Actually, vegan food should mostly work as kosher food as well, as long as you use kosher wine. I'm not Jewish, but have found this website useful * Are you planning a vegan meal, or vegan/kosher side dishes and a meat dish for the carnivores?

I think I've mentioned before: vegan friends of ours came for Thanksgiving; they always brought a main dish of their own, usually some kind of curry or meat-free stew, and I made the non-meat dishes vegan by replacing the stock or butter with olive oil, wine, tomato sauce or fruit juice: e.g. saffron rice made with wine, dressing with nuts, mixed dried fruit and apple cider (you have to watch the bread products for dairy or egg washes.) I modified a pie-like dessert on Epicurious that had an almond shortbread crust (for which I used crisco - may be vegan, might be kosher, but some vegans won't eat it) and a nut-and-caramelized topping (some substitutions were necessary there as well: maple syrup for honey, crisco for butter; I just didn't use cream and upped the brandy)

You have a lot of possibilities for take-out: Samosas are often vegan, hummous and falafel and many of their friends are usually vegan, most vegetarian maki are vegan...Italian pastas can be vegan. Many Thai noodle dishes can be made vegan. Sandwiches or roll-ups are also pretty easy: hummous or avocado, cilantro and tomato on a bagel or tortilla and you could do lox and cream cheese for everyone else.

At any rate, the simplest solution may be to suggest a potluck, and then keep your end as simple and close to the original ingredients as possible. Much less stress, both for you and for the people who have dietary restrictions.

* quote from website above: "Actually, keeping kosher is not particularly difficult in and of itself; what makes it difficult to keep kosher is the fact that the rest of the world does not do so."

Brunch to me means breakfast-ish food.

What about scrambled tofu with any seasonal vegetables that look good? You just use a non-stick pan, flavorless oil, and cut up the tofu in nice little chunks, pat dry, and brown for added texture. You can add some onion, soy sauce or flavored oil, herbs, etc. afterwards to make things interesting. I think asparagus would be very nice. You can lay some strips of smoked salmon on the top of the dish for the non-vegans.

The berries are pretty nice already, so you could do a strawberry- or raspberry-rhubarb crisp for dessert-- made with oil, not butter for the vegans.

Cathy2 wrote:For the Vegan, fruit salad? Oatmeal made with water?

My sister invited her vegetarian professor and wife for Thanksgiving. They arrived having already eaten. My sister was so peeved, she sent them home with leftovers including a good chunk of turkey. I'll bet none of the food ever reached their home.

That's rather passive aggressive, isn't it? I can understand being miffed that they weren't starving when they got to Thanksgiving dinner, but to send them home with meat, knowing full well they don't consume it?

In all likelihood they probably ate before they came to ensure that they wouldn't have to starve through a meal they weren't sure was going to fit their needs.

If they had been Jewish and kept strict Kosher and decided to eat beforehand but still wanted to enjoy your sister's company, would your sister have sent them home with a pork chop?

Sorry, got me ruffled a little bit. But I'm over it.

Back to the task at hand:

Vegan brunch:

I think you can find the Vegan soy-rizos at most grocery stores these days, and make a lovely potato and vegetable hash with that.

I disagree. If someone told me on the side ahead of time that they were so seriously whatever-ian that they couldn't accept my invitation to dine but would happily socialize with us, I'd accept that. I might make a crack about it in private, but I'd accept it.

If somebody showed up at my house for a meal I've been slaving over for hours, their portion of it bought, paid for and worked over, and announced that they'd laid down a precautionary meal to ward off having to eat mine, I would hand them their coats and say "I'm so sorry you can't stay" as I pushed them toward the door and the outside of my house-- which would be the only part of it they'd ever see again.

I would echo Josephine with suggestions of a tofu scramble containing onions, peppers, tomatoes, and whatever else you like. I would suggest getting the extra firm tofu, as I find it works better in a crumbled style such as the scramble. My preference is to go mexican-ish/breakfast burrito style. Serve with tortillas, salsas, and more crispy veggies to top it. Also, hash brown type potatoes or rice and vegetarian refried beans on the side. With some fresh fruit you'll have a nice little spread.

And, may I suggest a nice pitcher of margaritas to accompany it?

Many vegan breads and muffins are really not as bad as one might think they would be. Although, the time to experiment is not when guests are coming over. Sorry I don't have any go-to recipies at the moment.

Also, my thoughts are strictly on the vegan side. I can't speak to the Kosher requirements.

I think it is great you are seeking suggestions to provide delicious hospitality to your guests. Tofo scrambles are great. When I was vegan I used to love loaded hashbrowns- onions, multi-color peppers, bits of cauliflower and broccoli.

Post Punk Kitchen is good site for vegan recipes as is Veg Cooking. Here are the links for the breakfast recipes
http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/recipe.php?CourseID=37
http://www.vegcooking.com/mealtypeB.asp?page=2

The coffee cake recipe at Post Punk is good and simple to prepare. If you don't want to bake, Whole Foods and Chicago Diner have some great vegan baked goods you could pick up.

Although I'm not vegan, I'm supposed to limit my dairy and egg consumption as I have some allergy to them. So by necessity, I've done some exploring in vegan land. I'd like to third the tofu scramble idea. I add some turmeric to give it a bit of flavor and color. Both M. Henry and Victory's Banner do these scrambles and they are fairly tasty.

You might also want to consider granola and fruit with soy yogurt. Again, soy yogurt is not necessarily great, but not bad for a vegan option. I find the Wildwood brand at Whole Foods to be fine and not too sweet. Check the granolas to make sure they are made with oil and not butter. Or make your own. I think Nigella Lawson has a granola recipe with oil in her Feasts (I can't remember the exact name) book.

I second the "make the whole meal vegan" option. The Kosher folks should be able to eat it all, as long as the kosherable stuff has been koshered (ie the tofu is marked with the K or the OU, etc).

Mike G wrote:I disagree. If someone told me on the side ahead of time that they were so seriously whatever-ian that they couldn't accept my invitation to dine but would happily socialize with us, I'd accept that. I might make a crack about it in private, but I'd accept it.

If somebody showed up at my house for a meal I've been slaving over for hours, their portion of it bought, paid for and worked over, and announced that they'd laid down a precautionary meal to ward off having to eat mine, I would hand them their coats and say "I'm so sorry you can't stay" as I pushed them toward the door and the outside of my house-- which would be the only part of it they'd ever see again.

So succinct, yet so profound. My sentiments exactly.

When did the culture-shift occur that prevents guests from acting appreciative and gracious? By all means, I would do what I could ( as a host ) to accommodate my guests--- but they also have to realize that I am not a short-order cook. Common decency goes both ways---

I was thinking about this this morning and thought of an analogy-- I invite you over to my house for a piano recital, and just as I start to play, you stick your earbuds in your ear and pick your own music from your iPod.

Here's what happens next.

cito wrote:

Mike G wrote:I disagree. If someone told me on the side ahead of time that they were so seriously whatever-ian that they couldn't accept my invitation to dine but would happily socialize with us, I'd accept that. I might make a crack about it in private, but I'd accept it.

If somebody showed up at my house for a meal I've been slaving over for hours, their portion of it bought, paid for and worked over, and announced that they'd laid down a precautionary meal to ward off having to eat mine, I would hand them their coats and say "I'm so sorry you can't stay" as I pushed them toward the door and the outside of my house-- which would be the only part of it they'd ever see again.

So succinct, yet so profound. My sentiments exactly.

When did the culture-shift occur that prevents guests from acting appreciative and gracious? By all means, I would do what I could ( as a host ) to accommodate my guests--- but they also have to realize that I am not a short-order cook. Common decency goes both ways---

Believe me, I understand what you're both saying, and before this becomes a pinching and eye-poking match, please understand that what I thought was passive-agressive was that she sent them home with turkey rather than saying something. That's all.

the sleeve wrote:So we're having a few of my wife's friends over for brunch this weekend.

Since this thread has been interesting enough to spawn another, I'm extremely eager to hear how this turned out. Dish, please!

Mhays wrote:

the sleeve wrote:So we're having a few of my wife's friends over for brunch this weekend.

Since this thread has been interesting enough to spawn another, I'm extremely eager to hear how this turned out. Dish, please!

Yes, please!

Thanks to everyone for a very interesting discussion (both here and the other thread) and I apologize for the late posting of the "results."

I have to say, though, I think you guys will be disappointed. The reason I say that is b/c, after getting so many great suggestions, we didn't have to be as strict as I initially thought. My wife called her friend (hereinafter "the vegan") to find out about "vegan eggs," which are apparently available these days. Sounds awful to me, I have to say. Anyway, during that conversation, the vegan told my wife not to prepare anything special for her and that she'd be ok with vegetarian dishes that aren't vegan-strict. My wife asked why and the vegan explained that she is in a transitioning state--going from vegetarian to vegan--and she still has a lot of non-vegan-friendly food in her own fridge/condo, which she is not going to just throw away. She plans to finish her stash, and then go completely vegan. She did, however, appreciate our efforts to accomodate.

Flip wrote:You could always feed the vegan... to the kosher couple

leek wrote:I second the "make the whole meal vegan" option. The Kosher folks should be able to eat it all, as long as the kosherable stuff has been koshered (ie the tofu is marked with the K or the OU, etc).

I agree(d). Great idea and makes sense. Parenthetically, when they're not at home, the kosher couple are only as strict as not mixing dairy and meat items. So, you could see how the vegetarian brunch would now work perfect.

My wife's a big fan (as I am) of the food network. Over the past several months, she had seen a lot of recipes that she wanted to try. I have to say, I thought the final product was an amazing brunch, and I really didn't miss the meat even though I'm certainly what you would consider a carniore (especially since later on that afternoon, I was doing step 4 of the Wiviott WSM tutorial. Please feel free to check out the results). So, the brunch meno (now kosher vegetarian) consisted of the following:

1. Pomegranate Breakfast soda
2. A Fruit Salad with Honey Dressing
3. Spinach Gruyere Puff Pastry Pinwheels
4. Garlic and Herb Tomatoes
5. AND FINALLY, a Baked French Toast Casserole (without the maple syrup as recommended--it didn't need it)

Everyone--whether its kosher, transitioning vegan, carnivore, whatever--loved it. So, again, I hope you guys aren't disappointed. But, as long as it was a success, right? FYI, we're making note of that scrambled tofu suggestion for the next vegan dilemma. It sounds like a great idea (along with all of the others too, actually). Thanks again for all of the help!

Sounds like quite a lovely brunch! Thank you for the links.