Tomorrow night a group of my students are coming for Shabbat dinner. I love having them over, and I generally serve a vegetarian meal with some vegan options, because it seems most of my students are vegetarians these days.
Fifteen years ago, I remember arranging Shabbat dinners for Intro students at local congregations, and we always served the same menu: challah, wine, grape juice, salad, roast chicken, and a light dessert. Obviously that one isn’t going to work for my current group!
Nowadays I hold the dinner as a potluck. I provide main dishes, challah, and wine, and they bring salads, sides or desserts. I always have some dark chocolate squirreled away to supplement the desserts. I’ve gradually settled on a couple of main dishes that seem to please, one lacto-vegetarian, and one vegan: mac and cheese (comfort food for many people) and a nice quinoa and bean salad for the vegans. I make the quinoa dish the night before, so there’s less to do on Friday.
What are your favorite dairy, vegetarian, and vegan options for Shabbat? Any recipes to share?
A reader commented via twitter that it would have been nice for me to give the recipes – true enough! If you click on the links, it will take you to the recipes I use. That reminds me: I invite any readers who are on twitter to follow me there @CoffeeShopRabbi.
Vegetarian moussaka, with thinly sliced potatoes and aubergines, on a base of tomato and onion( with some lentils) and topped with bechamel sauce, or just cheese sauce; not vegan, but nice for veggies, and you can make a big “tray bake” and thus cater for a fair number; a nice green salad and off you go. Nom nom nom 🙂
Sometimes we’ll have tempeh “steaks” marinated in your favorite marinade then sauteed in coconut oil and served with rice and a side of veggies. It’s become a family favorite and there are so many variations. You could change it up by putting the tempeh on pasta with marinara sauce. Both are vegan options. 🙂