Best Vegetarian Meals in Vermont
January 10, 2018Are you considering a vegetarian, meatless Monday, plant-based, vegan, flexitarian, or meat on the side diet this year? Already practicing one? If so, you are in great company. According to the Baum + Whiteman 2018 Food and Beverage Forecast, 31% of Americans are currently practicing meat-free days and over the past decade, consumers under age 40 upped their fresh vegetable intake by 52%. Whether you choose Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, or Sunday - going meatless for a day (or even just the occasional meal) benefits your health, wallet, and the environment.
Committed carnivores fear not. Integrating more meatless meals into your diet will help you free up funds for healthier and more sustainable meat purchasing. You can focus that extra budget on the small, sustainable, local meat producers of Vermont. Better meat for a better planet.
One of the greatest barriers to decreasing meat consumption is figuring out how to make delicious, creative meals anchored by vegetables instead of meat. Luckily, the talented chefs of Vermont can help. Look to the progressive restaurant menus of the Vermont Fresh Network for divine veg-spiration. We've collected the finest examples of meat-free specials and menu items from Vermont's best chefs.
American Flatbread - Middlebury Hearth
Chef Samantha Langevin
Baked Feta
Artisan Restaurant at Four Columns Inn, Newfane
Chef Erin Bevan
Tortelli di Zucca
Stuffed pasta with Allwinds Farm Red Kuri squash and Vermont Creamery mascarpone in brown butter sage sauce with pomegranate, shaved black truffles and Parish Hill Creamery Reverie cheese.
The Bench, Stowe
Spaghetti Squash Alfredo
Bistro De Margot, Burlington
Chef Herve Mahe
Beggar's Purse
Beggar’s purse: delicata squash, wilted spinach & leek, roasted cauliflower, Bayley Hazen Blue, roasted fingerling potatoes, cauliflower & coriander seed cream [Aumonière Croustillante Au Bleu de Bayley Hazen, Courge Delicata, Chou - Fleur, Fondue d’Epinards & Poireaux, Purée de Chou Fleur à la Graine de Coriandre]
Chef Mahe gave us some step-by-step instructions to make your own Beggar's Purse here!
Butch + Babe's, Burlington
Chef Jaclyn Major
Maple Chili Polenta + Crispy Mushroom
Glazed Vermont root veggies, poached egg, and Nitty Gritty Grain polenta
Butch + Babe's has a new chef who loves to dream up vegetarian dishes. Meet Chef Jaclyn on the B+B blog!
Champlain College, Burlington
Chef Sandi Earle
Maplebrook Buratta Caprese Salad
Burrata, fresh tomatoes, balsamic and greens. Perfection. Recipe here!
Copper Grouse at the Taconic Hotel, Manchester
Chef Vanessa Davis
Ancient Grain Risotto
Ancient Grain (wheat berries (sourced from Nitty Gritty Grain Co.), rye berries & farro) risotto with local brussels sprouts and roasted seasonal squash, cherry tomatoes, crimini mushroom tossed in a green tahini sauce and topped with Blythedale Farm's Cookeville grana cheese and pea shoots from Bromley Farm.
Cornwall Orchards Bed and Breakfast, Cornwall
Innkeeper Lise Anderson
Winter Vegetable Strata
Features eggs from MoSe Farm in Orwell with a side of greens tossed with a light maple (local syrup) orange dressing, accompanied by nutty carrot muffins made from a 1970's Moosewood recipe (carrots from Elmer Farm in Middlebury), and garnished with crisp Macoun apples from Champlain Orchards.
Note from Lise Anderson, innkeeper at Cornwall BnB, about adopting Meatless Mondays at the Inn...
At Cornwall Orchards B&B we celebrate Meatless Mondays (MM) with a vegetarian breakfast for all our guests. I have a background in public health, but we decided to adopt MM because cooking vegetarian is familiar - and healthier - and the founder of MM is an old ad man friend of my dad's.
Edson Hill, Stowe
Chef Jason Bissell
Squash Lasagna
Hinesburgh Public House, Hinesburg
Noodle Bowl
Stir-fried veggies and kimchi over noodles in a miso broth with nori garnish
Honey Road, Burlington
Chef Cara Chigazola Tobin
Local Baby Carrots (from Half Pint Farm in the summer and Jericho Settlers Farm in the winter), Tahini, Dried Cherries, Pistachio Dukkah.
Inn at Weathersfield, Perkinsville
Chef Michael Ehlenfeldt
Hemingway Farm Delicata Squash filled with Quinoa, Kale, Heirloom Apples, Small Greens, and Chutney.
Note from Chef Michael...
A plant-based diet is a whole lot healthier. I don’t eat meat unless I know where it comes from.
Liberty Hill Farm Inn, Rochester
Chef, Farmer and Innkeeper Beth Kennet
Savory Bread Pudding
Farmer, innkeeper, and chef Beth Kennet makes a casserole dish for guests often using leftover dinner rolls and leftover veggies. You can put in whatever vegetables you prefer, it is a great recipe for a side dish, vegetarian entrée, or brunch casserole. You can make it fancy by baking in individual ramekins. Beth uses Cabot Seriously Sharp or Cabot Alpine cheddar.
Michael's on the Hill, Waterbury Center
Chef Michael Kloeti
Root Vegetable Frites with local chevre and truffle honey gastrique.
Morse Block Deli, Barre
Chef Stefano Coppola
Winter Shawarma
A mixture of pickled & fresh seasonal veggies with baby spinach, garlicky hummus, and a yogurt-tahini sauce all wrapped up in a warm Joseph’s Pita. The current version consists of pickled delicata squash, pickled beets, and pickled red onions (all from Pebble Brook Farm), curry-pickled cauliflower, fennel-pickled peppers, fresh carrots (Jericho Settlers’ Farm) and toasted sunflower seeds.
Natural Provisions, Williston
Vegan Chickpea Tuna Wrap
Natural Provision’s chickpea tuna salad, organic lettuce & pea shoots, carrots, red bell peppers & banana peppers wrapped in a sundried tomato tortilla.
The Perfect Wife Restaurant, Manchester
Chef Amy Chamberlain
The Howling Wolf Special
Steamed veggies with sweet potato hash and yellow curry satay.
Note from Chef Amy...
This menu item came from The Howling Wolf Cafe (It was in Aspen, CO and I was the opening chef there in 1995). It was our signature vegetable dish there and is now very popular here, too. I get more requests for the recipe to this menu item than any other. Get the recipe here!
Red Hawk Cafe at Champlain Valley Union High School, Hinesburg
Chef Colleen French
Falafel Buddha Bowl
Featuring quinoa, VT Bean Crafters falafel, roasted red onion, purple cabbage, Vermont-grown red potatoes, Vermont-grown butternut squash, and Vermont-grown brussels sprouts drizzled with a maple mustard tahini sauce made with Vermont maple syrup. [Pretty much the same-old cafeteria food you had in high school, right?!]
Red Hen Baking Company and Cafe, Middlesex
Beet Apple Soup with Horseradish and Creme Fraiche
Featuring local beets (may be a different farm each batch, including Pete's Greens, Dog River farm, Harlow Farm or others), Champlain Orchard's apples, Foote Brook Farm Yukon Gold potatoes, and finished with Creme Fraiche from Vermont Creamery with the added zip of a little horseradish.
Skinny Pancake, locations in Burlington, Montpelier, BTV Airport, UVM, and Hanover, NH
Hash Purples
Skinny Pancake Hash Purples are made from shredded Jericho Settlers Farm beets and carrots, fried until crispy and served with garlic dill aioli. We are proud of this item because it is sourced from local beets and carrots nearly 100% of the time and made entirely from scratch.
The Reluctant Panther Inn and Restaurant, Manchester
Chef Sigal Rockland
Raw, Pickled & Grilled Farmer’s Market Vegetables, with Israeli Hummus
Note from Chef Sigal...
This dish features our love of fresh local vegetables, from our farmer’s market in Manchester, and a little bit of my heritage as well. I go to the Farmer’s Market twice a week and get the best vegetables I can find from our local farmers, and then showcase them at their best. Our guests love it!
If you plan ahead, the combination of pickled vegetables with the raw and grilled can add flavor and texture interest and also let you taste a bit of summer in the middle of winter, with veggies preserved from those summertime market trips.
