Tofurkey for Christmas Dinner - How did that happen?

 Tofurkey (wiki)

I’m not too sure how it’s happened but we seem to have gone vegan for our Christmas dinner. 

If I think about it this has been creeping up on us for years and with less and less young ones eating anything meat or dairy it’s just been a natural progression.  It was many years ago we offered a nut roast as a side dish and since then the meat has slowly made its way off the table.

We usually shy away from making vegetarian or vegan dishes to resemble meat. Not everyone likes the feel or taste of meat so why try and replicate it in a burger or sausage?  For the festive meal though we have decided to try something called a “Tofurkey” and made an exception to the non-meat flavoured dish. 

This actually does taste like turkey. We didn’t want to be bringing anything to the table which had been shop bought so looked up a tofu recipe and settled for this one.  The reason we know it tastes like turkey is because we have done a trial run. The loaf shaped tofurkey has an outside of spiced tofu and the inside is a stuffing flavoured with sage and thyme herbs from the garden which give it that festive smell and taste. Meat and tofu don’t generally taste of anything, it’s the flavourings, herbs and spices that enhance it and in our experiments this seems to be the case as we basted it with more flavours including soy sauce every fifteen minutes in its 2 hour oven cooking time which gave it a lovely rich colour. We offered out samples to the kids and they all loved it. We just have to recreate one for the big meal. 

It’s at times like this I really appreciate the pots and planted herbs in the garden. Fresh leaves really enhance any meal. They can even be used as table decorations for the Christmas meal.

Table Runner Weight

In the past we have used clip on tablecloth runners. Our regular ones are made from ceramic lemons but have you thought about making small posies out of fresh foliage?

Aromatic, shrubby evergreen herbs, such as rosemary, sage and bay, and winter foliage, such as Eucalyptus, Pittosporum and Sarcococca, are all suited to this mini-posy. They can either be pinned to the side cloth draping over the table or just put around the corners of the table.

Leave the rosemary and Eucalyptus sprigs to rest in water for 24 hours before arranging. Allow to dry then form into a small posy. Tie together with twine, leaving a long piece at each end to attach to the table linen.

Gather the table runner at the top end of the table and position your posy just short of the table top. Tie it to the linen with the twine.

To stop it moving, secure the posy to the table runner and tablecloth at the back with a safety pin.

Festive Wine Glass

Decorative winter foliage can be used in many ways. Create simple, thoughtful Christmas table decorations by adding scented foliage to glasses or napkins. To transform your wine or champagne glasses, use soft, small-leaved stems of Eucalyptus or choose sprigs of scented, winter-flowering shrubs such as Christmas box (Sarcococca).

Decorate Chairs

Add an extra touch to your Christmas table decorations by adding something extra your dining chairs too. Tie ribbons around them, adorn them with mini wreaths made from evergreens from the garden or just simply hang a few of fir branches off the back. It might not last long, but looks lovely for the big day and it can all be composted after the event.

One item I shy away from on the festive table are lit candles. They do tend to get in the way when you are passing around the bowls of vegetables and bread sauce.

Home Grown

The only home grown vegetables on our plates this week will be broccoli as my Brussels didn’t come on well enough. Root vegetables come into their own for the Christmas dinner but I don’t really grow any. Carrots, parsnips and potatoes all go well and for this you’ll need a bit of forward planning. Seeds of these are usually sown in March/April time so one job to do over the holidays is go through the seed catalogues and pick out what you want to grow in the veggie patch. It’s handy to have an idea of long term planning when you look through the list.