Dimensie

It is almost Christmas, which means that you have to think about your Christmas dinner. We want to give you some inspiration for your main course and dessert. If you also want to see how you can make these dishes, watch the “CookWithUs'' videos of the GreenCie. The link to this video can later this week be found on the Dimensie Instagram.

Creamy Mushroom Pasta

• The main course we can recommend for you to make is a creamy mushroom pasta. This dish requires the following ingredients:
• 400 g pasta
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• ½ red chili, sliced fine
• 250 g mushrooms
• 10 sage leaves, sliced fine (optional)
• 6 sun-dried tomatoes, sliced fine
• Handful of kale, stem removed and shredded
• 1 cup of dry white wine (taste wise we would advise vegan-friendly wine, but every type of dry white wine works)
• 1 tablespoon mustard
• 180 ml coconut cream or vegan soy cooking cuisine
• salt & pepper (other spices can be added, depending on your preference)
• ½ cup pasta cooking water (the water that’s left over after you cook pasta)

If you want to make this tasty main course, follow the following steps. It will take around 15 minutes to make the creamy mushroom pasta for 4 persons:

1. Cook your pasta according to the instructions on the package. Make sure that you keep ½ cup of the pasta cooking water before you throw it all away.
2. Place a pan over a high heat (preferably a non-sticking griddle pan) and add a touch of oil. Add the mushrooms to the pan, season them with salt, pepper and other spices of your own choice and grill them until golden. This should take around 4 to 5 minutes. Flip the mushrooms half way through.
3. In the meantime, place a pan over a medium heat (preferably a non-sticking frying pan/saucepan) and add a touch of oil. Add the onions, garlic and chili. Sauté the mix for a few minutes and season with salt, pepper and other spices of your own choice.
4. Add the sage, tomatoes and grilled mushrooms.
5. Turn the heat up, then add the kale and the wine. 
6. Stir in the mustard, cream and the pasta water
7. Taste the sauce to see if you need to add more seasoning. It is important that you do this before you add the cooked pasta.
8. Once the sauce is seasoned to your liking, add the cooked pasta.
9. Stir the pasta into the sauce.
10. Enjoy your creamy mushroom pasta as your Christmas main course! :D

Cinnamon Rolls

For the dessert we can recommend this recipe for tasty cinnamon rolls. They are delicious around this time of the year and they will give you the Christmas feelings while eating them. You need the following ingredients for the cinnamon rolls for 8 persons:

• 480 ml almond milk + 2 tablespoons almond milk (so take 500 ml into account)
• 325 g plant based butter
• 50 g organic sugar
• 1 packet active dry yeast (7g is advised)
• 690 g flour (but take into account that you need more flour to ensure the dough won’t stick)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 165 g brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 160 g powdered sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract

If you want to make this tasty dessert, follow these steps. However, do take into account that it takes more than 2,5 hours to make this dish. But not to worry, 2 hours of that time is just waiting for the dough to rise (it has to rise twice) and the cinnamon rolls to bake. You can watch a Christmas movie while waiting! These are the instructions:

1. Make sure you have all the ingredients ready. Either have one big oven dish or two small ones and grease them with 40 g plant based butter. This is done so the cinnamon rolls won’t stick to the oven dish when you want to take them out. I always use plant based butter because I do not like the predominant taste of butter. 
2. Put a pan over a light heat and melt 115 g plant based butter. When it is melted, whisk  480 ml almond milk and 50g organic sugar together with the butter. This mixture should be around 37 to 43 degrees Celsius, so make sure it cools slightly if it is hotter.
3. When it has cooled down, sprinkle the yeast evenly over the warm mixture and let this set for 1 minute.
4. After 1 minute, add 630g of flour and 1 teaspoon of salt to the mixture. Mix this with a wooden spoon (this is very important, the dough is sticky and it will stick less to a wooden spoon).
5. When it is combined, cover the bowl and let it rise for 1 hour. Most recipes say that you should cover this with a towel or plastic wrap. However, I always use a plastic garbage bag (of course a clean one). This is first, easier to use because plastic wrap or a towel will mostly stick to the dough, which will break the dough when you take it off. The plastic garbage bag can be filled with air, which will have a higher chance of not sticking to the dough (see picture below as an example). This is secondly also better for the environment, because you can use this plastic garbage bag now for your plastic garbage.
6. After 1 hour, the dough should now be doubled in size.
7. Remove the towel, plastic wrap or plastic garbage bag and add 95g of flour. Stir this well.
8. Flour the surface and turn out the dough onto the well-floured surface.
9. Knead the dough lightly, add more flour if the dough is still sticky and  do this until the dough does not stick to the surface.
10. Roll the dough out into a large rectangle, around 1 cm thick. Fix the corners to make sure they are sharp and even.
11. Spread 170 g softened plant based butter over the dough.
12. Sprinkle evenly with 165 g brown sugar and 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon.
13. Roll up the dough, forming a log and pinch the seam closed. Place seam-side down.
14. Cut the log in half, then divide each half into 7 evenly sized pieces. Every piece should be around 8 cm thick.
15. Place 7 cinnamon rolls in each oven dish, 1 in the center and 6 around the sides. Cover this again with plastic wrap, a towel or the same plastic garbage bag and let this rise for 30 minutes.
16. Now preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
17. After 30 minutes, remove the plastic wrap, towel or plastic garbage bag and bake the cinnamon rolls in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until they are golden brown.
18. In the meantime, prepare the frosting. Take a bowl and whisk 160 g powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons almond milk and ½ teaspoon vanilla extract. 
19. When the cinnamon rolls are baked, take them out of the oven and drizzle the frosting evenly over the cinnamon rolls. Do this while the cinnamon rolls are still warm for a nicer taste.
20. Enjoy the cinnamon rolls as your Christmas dessert! :D

It is very important to follow these steps. If you are like me and you don’t, thing like this can happen:

I hope to have given you some inspiration about what to do (and what not to do) when making these dishes. Have fun thinking about ideas for your Christmas dinner and from the RedacCie: We wish you a merry Christmas and a happy new year!
 
The original recipes can be found on:
Creamy Mushroom Pasta: https://www.avantgardevegan.com/recipes/creamy-king-oyster-mushroom-pasta/
Cinnamon Rolls: 
https://tasty.co/recipe/the-best-ever-vegan-cinnamon-rolls