A vegetarian starter, main and dessert from Olivado

With more and more people choosing the vegetarian lifestyle, it’s essential for restaurants, cafes and food stores to offer meat-free options.

In that spirit, we’ve put together a delicious 3-course meal suitable for vegetarians but loved by everyone!

Herby Whole Roasted Butternut Pumpkin Soup

The great thing about this vegetarian starter recipe is you can make a big pot while pumpkin is in season and freeze the leftovers. Roasting whole makes the pumpkin much easier to handle and improves the sweet nutty flavour.

butternut pumpkin soup recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 butternut pumpkin
  • 1 glug of Extra virgin Olive oil
  • 1 whole garlic bulb
  • 1 leek, sliced
  • 1 carrot, sliced
  • 1 stick celery, sliced
  • 1 A handful of fresh sage
  • 1 A handful of fresh thyme
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
  • 1 L vegetable stock
  • 1/2 cup coconut cream
  • 1 tbsp black tahini
  • Dried chilli flakes (optional)
  • 2 tbsp lightly toasted pumpkin seeds

Serve with Herb Buttered Toast

  • 6-8 slices toast bread + herb butter
  • 50 g butter –softened
  • Mixed fresh herbs, chopped

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Place the pumpkin, and the garlic on a lightly greased large oven tray lined with non-stick baking paper. Drizzle with the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Cook for 1 hour until the pumpkin is soft. Set aside until cool enough to handle. Peel and scoop out the flesh of the pumpkin. Discard seeds. Remove the garlic from its skin.

Heat a dash of oil in a large pot. Add the leek, carrot, celery and cook for a few minutes. Add the fresh herbs, roasted garlic and pumpkin flesh, then pour in the stock. Bring to boil and simmer for 20 minutes.

Blend the soup in a blender or using a hand-held stick blender until smooth. Place the soup over high heat and bring to the boil. Add the coconut cream and season to taste.

Serve in soup bowls, drizzle with tahini, sprinkle some pumpkin seeds, fresh herbs and chilli (if liked) accompanied with herb buttered toasts. To make the herb butter, simply mix in the chopped herb with softened butter.

Watch the instructional video here.

Vegetable Lasagne

Everyone loves lasagne (or lasagna if you’re American), and this vegetarian option is no different. This unique recipe has a little bit of chilli added for that extra kick, evened out with our award-winning Extra Virgin Olive Oil.

vegetarian lasagne

Ingredients

  • 1 pack lasagne sheets
  • 1 jar green pesto
  • 1 large yellow squash, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 cups Veggie stock
  • 50g / 1.7oz sundried tomatoes – roughly chopped
  • 1 onion finely chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes
  • ½ tsp nutmeg
  • A handful of Spinach leaves
  • A handful of Fresh Basil
  • 500g / 1.1lb container cottage cheese
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese, grated
  • 5 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded
  • Salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
  • Olivado Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Method

Bring 2 cups of veggie stock to a boil and gently place in the butternut squash cubes – cook until tender, roughly 10 minutes. Drain and keep the stock.

In a deep fry pan over medium heat, fry off the onion and garlic until tender. Add the chopped sundried tomatoes, chilli flakes and nutmeg. Add the cooked butternut squash and spinach and mash up with a fork with a cup of the reserved veggie stock.

In a separate bowl stir together the eggs, ricotta or cottage cheese, 1 cup mozzarella, and ¼ cup Parmesan

Heat oven to 190°C / 375°C.

In a deep baking dish layer the lasagne sheets, butternut and spinach mixture, basil pesto, eggy cheesy mixture and basil leaves. Repeat until you have done at least 3 layers. Top with the remaining cheese and basil leaves plus a drizzle of oil.

Bake for 40 minutes. Devour.

Watch the instructional video here.

Banana Chocolate Peanut Butter Frozen Bites

To finish off the night we have these mouth-watering banana and peanut butter bites, coated in chocolate and dipped in nuts! Not only are these vegetarian, but also vegan!

vegetarian dessert

Ingredients

  • 4 bananas
  • 10 tsp peanut butter
  • 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Coconut oil
  • 1 100g / 3.5oz block dark chocolate
  • 1 tbsp coconut sugar
  • 1 tbsp cocoa
  • Sea salt to taste
  • 50g / 1.7oz peanuts – chopped and toasted

Method

Line a large, freezable container with baking paper

Chop each banana into 1.5cm / 0.5in rounds. Lay half of them face down in your tray. Spoon half a teaspoon of peanut butter on top of them. Finally top with the other half. Freeze for at least 2 hours – overnight if possible.

In the microwave on a low wattage or over a Bain Marie, melt the chocolate and Olivado EV Coconut oil together. Whisk in the sugar and cocoa until you have a smooth chocolate mixture. Add any extra sugar and salt to taste. Let cool slightly.

Have another lined plastic container ready. Grab your frozen banana bites from the freezer and very quickly dip each bite in your chocolate mixture one by one topping them with the chopped nuts as you go before the chocolate dries. Once you have dipped and sprinkled them all, place them back in the freezer for at least 1 hour. These can be kept in the freezer in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Watch the instructional video here.

A vegetarian night with Olivado

With something like 22% of the world’s population vegetarian, it’s no longer a fringe group that the rest of us can ignore.

As the above vegetarian starter, main and dessert show, vegetarian recipes don’t have to be boring. A combination of ingredients can create something delicious as well as satisfying.

The buttery taste of our olive oil enhances any meal, while our extra-virgin coconut oil brings something different to each meal.

Even if you’re a meat eater, it’s always handy to have a few vegetarian recipes up your sleeve, and of course, it doesn’t hurt to eat healthy once in a while!

Check out our other vegetarian recipes here, and head on over to our Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest pages for the latest news and competitions.

As always, if you have any questions about Olivado, our award-winning oils, or our recipes, please don’t hesitate to contact us.

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Sustainability

Olivado are leading the way in the avocado industry with our approach to regeneration, sustainability and utilising all waste to energy. We work hard to leave our communities and environment in a better state than when we started. We are carbon neutral now and we have made a commitment to be carbon positive by 2022. Shop with us and do your part for the planet.