Purple Sprouting Broccoli & Butter Beans w/ Tomato & Basil Violife

So, apologies for the two week absence, if I had a choice that wouldn't have occurred but I had two end of term deadlines that had to take priority - the good news now is that I've finished uni for the year and I have 9 days now until I go home to do some cooking. The even better news is that my friends at violife have been kind enough to send me loads of their cheese to cook some holiday recipes for you guys (thank you violife!). The recipes are going to be a mix of dishes, utilising various seasonal veg, but I'm also going to show you guys how to make some quick and easy party food using a mixture of shop bought and whole food ingredients so you can show all your friends and family just how wonderful a cruelty free Christmas can be!  When I was vegetarian, cheese was a big part of Christmas, we would always have a big cheese board on boxing day and I'm so excited that is possible again - you really won't miss out on the cheese and crackers this year!

This first recipe is a side dish or a starter, intended to be served warm with a slice of crusty bread, it's easy, quick and most importantly delicious and would be perfect at a dinner party this festive season. For this recipe I've used the tomato and basil violife stirred into a mix of red onion, purple sprouting broccoli and butter beans, sprinkled with a fresh shaving of parmesan. The tomato & basil flavour has a wonderful velvety smooth texture and the most amazing flavour, incredibly like dairy cream cheese and melts in this dish to create an amazing sauce that I would happily serve to anyone, to show them how amazing vegan food can be.

This dish tastes absolutely incredible and I love it when healthy food can do that - of course not all my Christmas recipes are going to be as healthy as this one - balance is key after all! This dish is packed with protein and iron as well as being high in dietary fibre and vitamin c, but trust me - this dish doesn't lack in flavour in any way - the amazing people at violife really know how to pack flavour into their cheese and this one does not disappoint! If you can't get this flavour where you're from then I would recommend mixing the original creamy violife with a tbsp of sun-dried tomato paste and a tsp of dried basil to attempt to recreate the amazing flavour.

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Purple Sprouting Broccoli & Butter Beans w/ Tomato & Basil Violife | Serves: 4 | Time: 15 mins

You'll need

• Large frying pan
• knife
• chopping board
• spatula/wooden spoon

Ingredients

• 1 red onion
• 300g purple sprouting (or regular) broccoli
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 can butter beans, drained
• 1/2 pack (100g) tomato & basil Violife creamy
• Pinch salt & pepper
• Violife parmesan
• 1 tbsp oil

Method

1. Finely chop the onion and add this to the frying pan on a medium heat, fry for a few minutes. Meanwhile, slice the broccoli lengthways, it should be in long thin pieces, add this to the pan with a pinch of salt to the pan and about 1/2 cup of water and increase the heat - allow the broccoli to steam until almost all of the water has evaporated.
2. Then reduce the heat to low, add the butter beans and stir in the cheese, allowing it to melt and distribute, add in a pinch of pepper and stir again. 
3. Serve up in 4 bowls with a slice of crusty bread and a good shaving of parmesan on top and enjoy!

Cassidy xx