We had a feast of lots of food and family and love over the past several days. It’s been wonderful, and now, on Sunday, I’m curled up on the couch relaxing.
For Thanksgiving, I have this recipe that I always brag about, and people ask me for it. Now that I have a blog, I thought this would be the best place to put it up. This recipe came about because in general, I’ve been a vegetarian since I was about 12. So, I really wanted a wonderful main course meal on Thanksgiving after years of just eating the side dishes and not feeling very satisfied. Hence, I present you with the:
HARVEST VEGETABLE TORTE
Based off of a Vegetarian Times 2001 recipe
Layers of mashed sweet potato, mushrooms and leeks, spinach and cheese all wrapped up in a scrumptious puff pastry.
2 large sweet potatoes (1 ½ pounds)
2 TBS butter
2 large eggs
2 TBS olive oil
¾ cup chopped leeks
12oz mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
2 TBS chopped fresh thyme, or ½ tsp. dried
15-oz container lowfat ricotta
2-4 oz feta cheese
2 10-oz. pkgs frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
¼ cup fresh dill
3 egg whites
¼ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 package (17 ¼ oz.) frozen puff pastry, thawed
Egg wash: 1 beaten egg mixed with 1 tsp. water
Fresh herb sprigs for garnish (or extra puff pastry cut into shapes)
- Peel and chop sweet potatoes and boil until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and then mash with butter, eggs, salt and pepper until smooth. Set aside.
- Saute leeks until soft, and then add mushrooms and garlic. Add thyme, salt and pepper at the end, and set aside.
- Mix ricotta cheese, feta cheese, spinach, dill, egg whites, red pepper flakes until well mixed.
- Preheat oven to 375F. Unfold one pastry sheet and place on lightly floured surface. Roll out to a 14-inch square, then cut into a 14-inch circle. Transfer to ungreased 81/2 or 9-inch springform pan and press gently to fit into bottom and side (there should be some overhang for folding over top of pie).
- Spoon sweet potato mixture into pastry and pat into even layer. Then top with mushroom and leeks, and then spinach mixture. Fold pastry overhang on top.
- Roll out only slightly the second puff pastry sheet on lightly floured surface, then cut into a 9 inch circle. Place over top and press edges together to seal. Brush top with egg wash, and then make a few simple slash on top of pastry with sharp knife.
- I like to add cut out hearts on top with the leftover edges of the first puff pastry.
- Bake 35-40 minutes. When well browned, loosely cover top with foil. Reduce heat to 350F. Carefully remove side of pan and brush sides with egg wash. (If you don’t think the sides feel done, keep baking until they do). Bake until sides are golden, about 35-40 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool slightly before cutting into wedges.
Per serving: 445 cal. 14g protein; 24g fat (6g. saturated); 46g carbs; 5g fiber
Here we are about to dig into the torte:
And here’s what it looks on the yummy inside:
My boyfriend is already trying to convince me that we should make this more than once a year. I am holding fast that this is my Thanksgiving recipe, for once each year. But it really is good…
As for what this has to do with yoga – all I can say is that we’ll be doing a lot of yoga and exercise to counteract the effects of the past few days 🙂
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that looks delicious! missed you at Healthworks but i got in a good practice with someone subbing for Wendy; her name’s Cheryl.
That looks great! I’m always on the lookout for tasty vegetarian dishes. Thanks for posting.
Oh wow… that looks amazing! I just drooled on my keyboard. Do you think you could make it with regular potatoes instead of sweet potatoes or would that throw everything off?
I’ve been looking at this blog post A LOT since Thanksgiving, and decided that since Thanksgiving 09 was too far off to wait to try this, that a New Year’s Eve feast with friends would be the ideal setting to give it a try. I opted to decorate with cowboy/girl shapes, but otherwise followed the recipe to a T. It was delicious and I thank you for the posting. I thought I would also include a favorite vegetarian thanksgiving dish that I started making a few years ago. I found this recipe in “How it all Vegan” by Sarah Kramer and Tanya Barnard. It’s a mushroom pate that includes many of the spices associated with Thanksgiving (sage/thyme/basil), and the first time I made it, it brought back warm memories of eating too much of mom’s delicious stuffing. Here it is:
voracious vegan pate:
Ingredients
1 cup onions, diced
5 mushrooms, diced
4 cloves garlic, diced
splash olive oil
1 cup raw sunflower seeds, ground
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup nutritional yeast
2 tsp basil
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp kelp powder (optional)
1 1/2 cups water
3 Tbsp Braggs OR soy sauce
1 cup potatoes, grated
1/2 cup olive oil
1 habinero pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium saucepan, saute the onions, mushrooms, and garlic in olive oil on medium-high heat until tender. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, combine the ground sunflower seeds (you can grind them in a blender or a food processor), flour, yeast, basil, salt, thyme, sage, and kelp powder (opt). Add the water, Braggs, potatoes, and oil, and stir together. Stir in the sauteed vegetables and optional pepper, and mix well. Spoon mixture into a lightly oiled 9″ pie plate. Bake for 45 minutes or until centre is set and browned. Chill thoroughly before serving.
Thank you. I’m supposed to cook for my new vegan girlfriend this weekend and have no idea what to make! I found a ton of recipes at this vegetarian recipe site but with soo many to choose from I just got confused. Do you have any recommendations, like .. the tastiest vegetarian recipe, ever, or something?! Thanks in advance! I’m so clueless about this vegetarian stuff