Behold the Veggieducken
This post and recipe are excerpted from the new book Eat More Better: How To Make Every Bite More Delicious, available now wherever books are sold.
Vegetarians don’t like it when you suggest that they’re missing out by not eating meat at Christmas. But the truth is, they are missing out.
That’s not because you need to eat meat to celebrate holidays. It’s because holidays deserve something huge and special and time-consuming. Vegetarians have never had that one large, elaborate, centerpiece dish that befits a major holiday.
That’s why I invented the Veggieducken.
This dish is a take on the Turducken—a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey, with stuffing between the layers—and is made of two sweet potatoes inside leeks inside a banana squash, with vegetarian stuffing between the layers.
As you build from the bottom up, it’s half a squash (seeds removed), stuffing, leeks, stuffing, sweet potatoes microwaved for 3-4 minutes before insertion, stuffing, leeks, stuffing, other half of squash. Bake at 350 for 2–3 hours until it’s soft throughout. Slice and serve.
Check out the instructional video and detailed recipe.
One important tip: Banana squash can be hard to find in some areas, so you can use two butternut squashes instead, putting one sweet potato inside each. You’ll slice the whole thing up before serving anyway, so you can still put it all on one big platter.
Merry Christmas indeed! Even for vegetarians.
Dan Pashman’s new book, Eat More Better: How To Make Every Bite More Delicious, is available now wherever books are sold. He’s also the host of the Cooking Channel web series Good to Know and You’re Eating It Wrong, as well as the WNYC food podcast The Sporkful.
More proof that vegetarians can eat well on the holidays:
