I have had a vegan wedding in the works for a year now. In the last two months, I have got a lot of things settled. I'm doing a lot of renting rather than buying in the vein of "reuse
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You used the words "uninspiring" and "italian" in the same sentence. That makes me sad.
My very omnivorous, very Italian family would be very happy with stuffed peppers, which since we were taught the peasant style of cooking are made with no meat to begin with, as an entree. While it may come to blows as to who gets the last stuffed pepper at Grandma's house, most of my extended family won't even order them at restaurants because they're full of meat and frequently topped with cheese, and since when is peasant food full of meat and covered in cheese? They just aren't right that way. Grandma's peppers were always be very best because she saved bits of bread, crusts and staling pieces, in a bag in the freezer, and would make her crumbs with it. Bits of whole wheat, bits of rye, bits of sourdough, bits of just about any yeast based bread all went in the crumb bag. Her peppers were amazing. Veganizing her recipe (and I use that word very loosely because all recipes are to taste, measuring is for baking cakes) would just require sourcing vegan breads for the crumbs and hydrating the stuffing with water or veggie stock. Season the stuffing as you like, in a pinch I've just chucked in Italian Seasoning to taste and it's fantastic. If you want to get a meat-like taste without including any meat substitutes, toss in some fennel seed, it'll give it an Italian sausage flavor. The most awesome thing about making stuffed peppers for an event is that they are BETTER the second day when reheated, so they could be made ahead, and warmed in the oven in advance of service. There are only 2 real tricks to getting them right, first liberally salt the interior of the peppers before stuffing them and second pan fry them in olive oil until they soften and start to brown. Undersalt and they'll need a ton of salt to be palatable. And, while baking may sound more healthy, and I'm sure it is, they just aren't as good. Besides, after you've fried off a few dozen peppers the oil left in the pan is culinary gold IMO.
My very omnivorous, very Italian family would be very happy with stuffed peppers, which since we were taught the peasant style of cooking are made with no meat to begin with, as an entree. While it may come to blows as to who gets the last stuffed pepper at Grandma's house, most of my extended family won't even order them at restaurants because they're full of meat and frequently topped with cheese, and since when is peasant food full of meat and covered in cheese? They just aren't right that way. Grandma's peppers were always be very best because she saved bits of bread, crusts and staling pieces, in a bag in the freezer, and would make her crumbs with it. Bits of whole wheat, bits of rye, bits of sourdough, bits of just about any yeast based bread all went in the crumb bag. Her peppers were amazing. Veganizing her recipe (and I use that word very loosely because all recipes are to taste, measuring is for baking cakes) would just require sourcing vegan breads for the crumbs and hydrating the stuffing with water or veggie stock. Season the stuffing as you like, in a pinch I've just chucked in Italian Seasoning to taste and it's fantastic. If you want to get a meat-like taste without including any meat substitutes, toss in some fennel seed, it'll give it an Italian sausage flavor. The most awesome thing about making stuffed peppers for an event is that they are BETTER the second day when reheated, so they could be made ahead, and warmed in the oven in advance of service. There are only 2 real tricks to getting them right, first liberally salt the interior of the peppers before stuffing them and second pan fry them in olive oil until they soften and start to brown. Undersalt and they'll need a ton of salt to be palatable. And, while baking may sound more healthy, and I'm sure it is, they just aren't as good. Besides, after you've fried off a few dozen peppers the oil left in the pan is culinary gold IMO.
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