Knowledge Base > Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

Char Nolan - Ask Me Anything (Office Hours)

This event was on Tuesday, August 20, 2024 at 11:00 am Pacific, 2:00 pm Eastern

Join Chef Char Nolan in her virtual office as she welcomes all of your questions. This event was created for you and we encourage you to ask anything – from cooking techniques to cou… Read More.

Recorded

Question:

What are your favorite vegan recipes ideas for a large catering function that meat-eaters will also enjoy?

— Scott Justus

Answer:

We're gonna go back to this cookbook, which, uh, is sort of like the backdrop of my life. Uh, there's a recipe in here for what's called Raise the Roof lasagna, and it's the lasagna that was served at rips wedding where Fran Costigan made his wedding cake. And, um, everyone loves lasagna. We all tweak it our own way. We put in it what we like, et cetera, et cetera. Anything that's covered with a red sauce is always, always well received. So I would start with either a pasta dish, um, a a nice delicious salad that is not made with iceberg lettuce, but maybe something interesting that's a mixture of, uh, romaine with, uh, spring mix and other things like that. And maybe add some pretty sliced vegetables like, uh, I don't know, uh, Christmas radish or some nice heirloom tomatoes or whatever. Um, I'm trying to think. Uh, the other thing that's very popular are cauliflower steaks. They hear the word steak and so they are already with you. They've just heard the word steak. But cauliflower steaks, um, are fun to make. There are many different ways to make them. I might be a little partial to the Rouxbe recipe 'cause it is so good and it has a number of different sauces that you could make with it. My favorite being gas, the mushroom gravy, um, uh, which is, um, very fun to make. Or if you were making that lasagna and you were having, um, the, um, the cauliflower stick, you might wanna make it in an Italian way, maybe with the pesto or something like that. But I think, um, you have to think of, think the other thing I wanted to say is desserts. Vegan desserts are always accepted by everyone because again, everyone loves desserts. So I'm gonna go with, uh, plant-based lasagna and you can either use tofu as your filler or rip uses sweet potatoes. I personally prefer a tofu. The manati recipe that we use translates beautifully into making a, uh, a wonderful, wonderful lasagna. So, um, yeah, good signage as well. And, uh, sometimes, uh, Scott giving something a cute name 'cause people are into names. We have Fred and I have a friend who has a really good plant-based restaurant here in Philadelphia. And he doesn't call, um, vegan Chicken wings. Chicken wings, he calls them flappers. And so he's known for his flappers. So, uh, you might wanna put some thought into, uh, names for your dishes, but everyone will love what it's that you make.
Char Nolan

Char Nolan

Chef Instructor

@char_nolan