How to cook vegan holiday recipes with Chef Jack Middleton

Savoury meats and creamy dishes take centre stage at some traditional holiday dinners — and the flavours don't have to disappear when cooking for vegan friends and family. 

Hamilton-based chef Jack Middleton, a graduate from George Brown and former apprentice at Quatrefoil in Dundas, turned away from the heavy meats and cheeses in his training when he went vegan four years ago. 

He also started his company The Empowered Vegan to help people "elevate" the way they eat a plant-based diet — they offer classes on varying topics, like vegan cheese boards and Indonesian cooking, and full service catering. 

Middleton said that a number of people show up to his classes because they want to cook for people, like their kids, who have changed to eating a plant-based diet. 

"I think a vegan diet is interpreted differently by different people," he said. "But just a good, general baseline rule of thumb is no animal products. So in the context of food, that means no dairy, no eggs, no fish, no shellfish, no meat — that kind of thing."

When the holidays come around, people might panic on what to make. But Middleton reassures that there are substitutions, and they don't mean skimping on the flavour. 

Easy substitutions 

The dairy and eggs in recipes is what people find tricky, Middleton said, but it's actually a good entry point for people to start making accommodations. 

For the holidays, butter is usually the culprit. The best alternative, he said, is something that mimics its texture and fattiness, like a refined coconut oil that won't overpower your mashed potatoes. 

Another easy change is substituting milk one-for-one with nut milks, which will also please your lactose-free friends. 

Going beyond that realm is exploring mock-meats, like tofurky or seasoned seitan.

And while you might not be able to nail the texture of dark-meat turkey, Middleton said pulling on nostalgia, especially for more recent vegan eaters, can make food hit the spot. 

"Your palate starts to change, but what remains is your childhood experience of certain flavour profiles that exist in a meal," he said. "If you have something that you had for years — say your mom always put savoury in the stuffing — then if you have a vegan stuffing that is strong in the savoury, it's going to be very reminiscent to you of that childhood experience." 

Reaching for thyme, marjoram, or sage will echo memories of turkeys past, just without the meat. 

"You just want to make sure that you're leveraging the same flavour profiles." 

And according to Middleton, a lot of those seasons that people love are vegan, meaning a great experience for all. 

You can check out some of Middleton's vegan recipes on his website and youtube channel.

Chef Jack Middleton's "World's Best Vegan Stuffing"

Ingredients: 

• 1 large loaf of stale white bread
• 1/4 cup vegan butter or olive oil
• 2 cup onion diced
• 1 cup celery diced
• 4 cloves garlic minced
• 3 Tbsp fresh herbs chopped
• 2 sweet apples diced
• 2 tsp salt and 1 tsp pepper
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 1 cup chopped nuts roasted
• 1 flax egg (1 Tbsp ground flax + 3 Tbsp water)
• 2 -3 cup stock 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Whip up flax egg — mix together flax and water in a small dish. Set aside.

2. Slice bread into small cubes and set aside. (If the bread is fresh, slice it into cubes, spread them on a baking sheet, and leave it on the counter over night.)

3. Saute onion and celery with salt and vegan butter until translucent. Add garlic, herbs and pepper. Cook for another minute.

4. Mix everything in the pan with the bread, nutritional yeast, flax egg, apples and 1 cup of stock in large mixing bowl. Continue adding 1/2 cup stock until bread reaches a moist consistency (but no so much that there's liquid collecting in the bottom of the bowl.)

5. Pour into a 9" X 13" baking dish and bake for 30 minutes or until the top gets crispy.