Vegetarian Dining
It’s summer! Fresh fruits and
vegetables are plentiful and the time is ripe for trying vegetarian
dishes. A vegetarian barbecue is a great way to entertain friends
with flair and style but a minimum of muss and fuss. Read on for
all the information you need from a mouth-watering menu to original
serving suggestions for a stylishly simple summer meal! Barbecues are well-suited to relaxed, informal summer entertaining, allowing cook and guests to enjoy the sun’s warmth or the stars’ beauty together. Potatoes, mushrooms, fennel, onions, eggplant, zucchini, parsnips, corn on the cob, peppers (the red and yellow ones are more digestible than the green) can all be grilled on the barbecue. Brush them with sesame oil or marinate them beforehand in some olive and sesame oil mixed with lemon, balsamic vinegar or teriyaki sauce, salt and freshly ground pepper.
Have fun combining vegetables so that textures—soft, chewy, hard, crisp—complement one another. Cook them directly on the grill, threaded on skewers for colourful kebabs, or bundled in foil with seasonings. Your taste buds never had it so good. Squash with a dab of herb butter or a splash of citrus is scrumptious. Ask our experts for barbecue tips on-line and master the art of barbecuing.
- Start with hot goat cheese on a bed of greens dressed with walnut oil, and served with toasted bread and tapenade. Its appetizing aromas make this dish the ideal first course. Remove the cheese from the grill when it begins to melt, don't let it drip.
- Then serve the main course of grilled vegetables alone or with rice, couscous, or a tossed salad.
- For dessert, feature fresh fruit: fruit salad or barbecued fruit brochettes. Grilled fruit flambéed with grand marnier would make a grand finale!
- Make a vegetable centrepiece. Using a large head of cabbage as a base, add carrots, mushrooms, ears of corn and greenery.
- Serve fruit salad in scooped-out melons. Carve a dragon or other design on the outside if you're artistic.
- Arrange bouquets of finger peppers in small greenery-filled flowerpots set between guests.
- In front of each plate, set out a tiny herb bouquet that guests can bring home. The scents of rosemary, coriander, thyme, savory and basil will add to the ambience and heighten enjoyment of the meal.
Impress your friends with colourful vegetarian dishes from different parts of the world. Eggs and cheese, rice and pasta are widely used in vegetarian cooking. Tomato soup or gazpacho followed by cheese soufflé, tossed salad and Catalan custard with burnt sugar topping make up a Spanish-inspired menu. An Italian buffet might feature tomato-basil salad, fettucine with broccoli, pappardella with mushroom sauce and a refreshing dessert like coffee ice cream with amaretti (almond macaroons).
Vegetable tajine, a dish from the Atlas Mountains of Morocco, is a savoury stew slowly simmered over an open fire or in the oven. Served with couscous, after a starter of carrot, beet and tomato salads, it makes a mouth-watering meal with a light dessert of thinly sliced oranges dusted with sugar and cinnamon and sprinkled with fresh mint.
Treasure troves of healthy and delicious recipes, Asian, Indian and Middle Eastern cuisines are generally known for their wide range of nutritious dishes in which sugar, fat and meat are used sparingly. Built around vegetarian principles long before they became fashionable, these cuisines developed traditional meatless dishes due to bad economic conditions, religious reasons, agricultural choices that are different from today's.
In Northern Africa couscous is served with chick peas; in Asia, rice and soy are the classic combination; while in Mexico corn goes with red beans and in India rice is accompanied by lentils. Spicy, flavourful vegetarian cooking inspired by the tenets of Buddhism is a celebration of food and rather than a set of ascetic strictures.
No discussion of vegetarian cooking would be complete if it didn’t include tofu. Made from protein-rich soymilk, tofu will keep two to four days in the refrigerator if the water is changed regularly. Tofu, or soybean curd, has been a staple of Chinese cooking for over a thousand years. It can be enjoyed raw, steamed, fried, grilled, used in soups, salads, stir-fries and braised dishes... even frozen. Discover delicious tofu-based recipes.
Bon appétit!
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