As our writer Kelsey Adams pointed out, with reduced numbers of those gathered around dinner tables during the pandemic, now's a good time for those who have been wanting to shift from meal-centric plates to plant-based meals to try out some new recipes.

Of course, it doesn’t have to just be for the main festive event, but can be also for before and after holiday meals like Christmas dinner. 

Executive chef Frederic Breuil from Fairmont Le Montreux Palace in Montreaux, Switzerland points out that using all edible parts of a food item maximizes the nutritional value obtained. 

“Eating every edible part of an ingredient not only helps reduce food waste but also ensures we get the most out of its nutrients,” Breuil says. “Most of a vegetable’s nutrients are found within the skin, so I always look to find different ways to include all of the vegetable in my dishes, from brushing the skin before cooking to incorporating the ends into delicious sauces.”

Here’s Breuil’s recipes for a vegetarian pie as well as apple crumble for dessert.

Fairmont Le Montreux Palace’s veggie pie

1 kilogram potatoes

Olive oil

200 grams cheese, grated

1 crushed garlic clove

1 finely chopped red onion

3 finely chopped celery stalks

1 roughly chopped fennel root

1 finely chopped red chilli

3 carrots

1 lemon

1 broccoli

400 grams chickpeas, drained and rinsed

To garnish finely chopped fresh parsley

1. Pre-heat your oven to 200°C.

2. Slice the potatoes with the skin still on and boil for 12 minutes until potatoes become soft.

3. Keeping the skin on the carrots, grate them into a baking dish. Add the chopped celery, fennel root, chilli, parsley leaves and stalks, red onion, garlic, chickpeas, and 100 grams of cheese, making sure to not waste any edible parts.

4. To reduce food waste, chop the broccoli head and grate the stalk into the baking dish. Add the zest of half a lemon and the juice of the full lemon. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Once the potatoes are boiled, mash them with olive oil or butter and add in the remaining cheese (100 grams) and mash until smooth. Layer the mash on top of the mixed vegetables in the baking dish and place in the oven at 200°C for 35 minutes.

Fairmont Le Montreux Palace’s apple crumble

8 medium apples, peeled and sliced

1 lemon juice

1/8  teaspoon cinnamon

1/8  teaspoon nutmeg

¼ cup rolled oats

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup almond pulp

½ cup coconut oil

1. Preheat the oven to 170°C.

2. Put the peeled and sliced apples in the lemon juice. Take a pie dish and arrange the apples next to each other to cover the dish. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.

3. In a bowl, combine the flour, almond milk, oats and brown sugar. Add coconut oil and evenly blend the dry mixture until the topping looks crumbly. Place onto the apples.

4. Bake for 25 minutes until the top looks golden brown. Make sure to check that the fruit is soft before removing from the oven.

5. Serve lukewarm with homemade vanilla ice-cream.