Vegan Lobster (garlic butter heart of palm)

To celebrate the release of Fast Easy Cheap Vegan, I wanted to share a brand new recipe that is decadent, scrumptious, delicious, and oh-so-fancy! I'm talking about Vegan Lobster!! Yup, you read that right! Rich, tender, and served with a buttery lemon garlic dip. Oh, and get this - it's just 7 ingredients and takes just 10 minutes to make. Sensing a theme? 😉

Since the book released last week, life has been a whirlwind of interviews and broadcast segments, congratulatory emails, texts, and phone calls and I don't think I have stopped smiling! Thank you so much to everyone who picked up a copy. I have loved reading your feedback and seeing your photos of the recipes posted online. It makes me feel so good knowing that my recipes are bringing people joy and helping them eat plant-based easily and affordably. So let's celebrate with some Vegan Lobster!!

I mean, just look at how good this Vegan Lobster looks!! I have to confess: after taking these photos, Adam and I devoured this dish in record time. We only paused every so often to say things like, "Holy moly, this is good!" or "Yummmm, oh my goodness!" or "I can't believe this is VEGAN!!"

I think you're really going to enjoy this one! I just love veganized seafood recipes and what better timing for them given the awareness being created by documentaries like Seaspiracy! It's very clear that our oceans need saving and we can do this by choosing what goes on our plates. If you are interested in making other vegan seafood dishes, check out my recipe for  Heart of Palm Calamari, Vegan Tofu Fillets or Tofish & Chips 🙂

Note: if you're concerned about the sustainability of heart of palms, rest assured that, unlike some palm oils, most canned varieties of this veggie comes from farmed peach palms. Just check with the brand you are purchasing to be sure.

How to make vegan lobster:

Chop the heart of palm into large chunks. I like to make these chunks various different shapes to mimic the look of lobster pieces.

Add the vegan butter, garlic to a small bowl. Microwave in 20-second increments until melted. Pour half of the melted garlic butter into a large frying pan and add two tablespoons of water to the pan with the butter. Pour the remaining half of melted garlic butter into a small dish and mix in 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Set this aside, this will be used for dipping.

Heat the pan with the butter and water and add the heart of palm chunks. Lightly simmer for about 5 minutes until the heart of palm is heated through.

Sprinkle the paprika and salt over the heart of palm and gently stir to incorporate the paprika. I like to only partially mix in the paprika so that some pieces have more paprika than others to make it look more like vegan lobster. Serve the heart of palm hot, with the lemon butter on the side, and garnished with parsley and lemon wedges.

This vegan lobster is fantastic served on its own with the lemon butter sauce for dipping, but you can also use it to add it to pasta, top a salad, make a sandwich, or anywhere you need something fancy in your life. Yum!

Bon appetegan!

Sam Turnbull.