The Vegan Next Door

About author / Amy Powell

World traveler; gourmet 30 minute meals; lover of exotic ingredients; winner on FoodTV's Chefs vs City; graduate French Culinary Institute. Her recipes will tantalize your taste buds.

An old friend is in town. Food has always been a bonding point in your relationship. Together you’ve enjoyed countless boards of charcuterie, salted butter slathered thick on chewy French bread, crisp skinned salmon fillets, and the occasional salad, more often than not dressed in something bitingly acidic with strong undercurrent of anchovy.

Several months have passed since you’ve seen each other. She looks well, glowing even from a new regime of daily yoga and (gasp!) a mostly vegan diet.

What does this mean? You wonder. Will a friendship founded on shared diet of indulgence have any ties that bind after one very strong, carnivorous thread has been severed?

There is only one way to find out. Invite the Vegan over for dinner.

I recently found myself in just such a scenario not for the first time, a formerly omnivorous friend turning suddenly vegetarian. At first, I am always a bit taken aback. When you have known someone and dined with them for years, to have an aspect of that shared experience so drastically altered can be startling.

And yet never have I lost a friend or even one dinner date because I chose the heritage pork chop while the friend chose the vegetarian risotto. Sharing plates becomes trickier, but even then not as hard as I might have imagined. Vegetarians and vegans aside there is inevitably a person at every table who does not eat some food for religious, health, allergy, or reason of plain personal preference. So in many ways I am already comfortable making accommodations.

Having the vegetarian or vegan over for dinner is even somewhat easier than going out. Understanding the ground rules--she will eat butter and cheese but not eggs, for example--it is possible to avoid the long rounds of questions normally needed in a restaurant to determine what exactly has gone into each dish.

Not to mention, cooking for the friend you now have the ability to construct a meal that not only meets her criteria but is something you actually want to eat too. If tempeh is not your thing but quinoa is, the menu is yours to decide.

I had one such vegan-come-lately friend over recently for heavy appetizers. Creating a spread with big flavors, lots of vegetables, and some legume-based protein was far easier than I had imagined.

First, beans lend themselves well to more appetizers than people realize. Dips made of pureed white beans, salsas of black beans, hummus, edamame, roasted chickpeas, are just a few of many bean snacks that require little more than a can opener.

For big flavor I like rich vegetable based spreads like roasted red peppers, eggplant caponata, and cheese-free walnut pesto. They all make for some fine crostini toppings.

Of course the options with vegetables are endless. I avoid the standard crudité tray in lieu of a seasonal, cooked dish. Broad beans or shishito peppers slightly charred and splashed with lemon juice. Zucchini and yellow squash with herbed olive oil. Roasted asparagus in the spring, roasted baby carrots in the fall. When vegetables are the focal point, there is an abundance of riches.

The next time a friend unveils her new meat-free diet, rather than bemoaning your lost carnivorous outings, consider inviting her over for dinner. You might not be sharing a tray of barbecued ribs anytime soon, but with a bowl of roasted chickpeas dusted in smoked paprika and some charred asparagus the effect is almost the same. In addition to some great vitamins you might even pick up a bit of your friend’s glow while you’re at it.

Serves/Makes: 24

• 1 loaf French bread
• 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/3 cup walnuts
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 6 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper