9 Best Imbolc Recipes to Celebrate Spring Coming | Welcome to Wicca now

Hello my dears and welcome to Magic Magic! I recently covered Imbolc and talked about the history and meaning of this magical fire festival, as well as shared my favorite ritual of Imbolc and some tips and tricks for your Imbolc altar setup and the various symbols associated with Imbolc. I’ve also written about another Spring Sabbath, Ostara, and included some Ostara recipes and an Ostara ritual. Today I want to continue on that note and share with you some of my favorite Imbolc recipes.

Imbolc is a time to celebrate the end of winter and the coming of spring. It’s a time when the first ewes are lambing and celebrating the coming bounty of warmer seasons. Therefore, many of the recipes traditional to Imbolc contain dairy products. If you are vegan, you can substitute dairy products for their vegan equivalent. Milk for soy milk, cheese for vegan cheese, etc.

Due to the time of year and the relative scarcity of fresh seasonal fruits and vegetables, many Imbolc recipes contain ingredients that could be stored over the winter. Dried fruits are common and hence squash and potatoes. Apple would also be a good option as it is generally a fruit that stores well for long periods of time

Apple pie would be a very fitting dish for this Sabbath!

Imbolc recipes

Imbolc recipes for a festive feast

Below is a collection of dishes that I think would make a wonderful addition to any celebratory Imbolc feast. Keep in mind that this would make enough food for 6-8 people depending on how hungry you are. If you are fewer, select only a few dishes or half of the recipes.

A celebratory Imbolc dinner should be fun, easy and delicious!

Imbolc Recipe #1 Baked Feta

Ingredients

• 1x block sheep (goat is fine too) milk feta, drained.
• 5x cherry tomato
• 2 sprigs of oregano
• ½ small brown onion
• 1x garlic clove
• aluminum foil
• A squirt of olive oil

method

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius

Crush the garlic clove and finely slice the onion

Take 2 sheets of aluminum foil. They should be large enough to wrap around the feta block. Place the feta block on the 2 foil sheets.

The feta with the crushed garlic, onion and cherry tomatoes. Tear up the oregano sprigs (stemmed ones are fine) and place them on top of the other ingredients. Top all of this with a generous drizzle of olive oil. Season to your liking. Keep in mind that feta is usually quite salty, so you may not need to add extra salt. Freshly ground pepper is a delicious addition!

Cook the feta about 15 minutes.

Serve warm and crunchy bread as a delicious appetizer.

Imbolc Recipe #2 Feta, Ricotta, and Spinach Lasagna

This is a delicious recipe for a super tasty vegetarian lasagna. Recipe by Sarah Tuck via Dish Magazine

You’ll love this veggie lasagna as much as Garfield’s lasagna!

Ingredients:

400 grams baby spinach, washed

400 grams of ricotta

100 grams feta, crumbled

2 garlic cloves, crushed

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

Béchamel:

• 40 grams of butter

¼ cup flour

• 2¼ cups milk
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1¼ cups grated parmesan
• 2 bay leaves

Put together:

• 1 Pack of Dried Lasagna Sheets. You may not need the entire package, but it’s better to be on the safe side than run out! You can also use fresh pasta sheets if you prefer.

Method:

1. Steam the spinach until wilted but still green. Squeeze out excess water and let cool. Roughly chop and place in a bowl. Stir in the ricotta, feta, lemon zest, garlic, parsley, and nutmeg.

Béchamel: Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the flour, whisk into a paste and add half the milk. Add the remaining milk and nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Continue whisking over heat until sauce is thick and smooth. Stir in 1 cup Parmesan and add the bay leaves. Leave to cool for half an hour and remove the bay leaves.

2. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
3. Assemble: Smear 2 tablespoons of béchamel across the bottom of the casserole dish. Line with pasta sheets. Spread half of the spinach mixture to form an even layer. Top with ¾ cup béchamel and smooth out. Repeat with a second layer and finish with a third layer of lasagne sheets. Top with the remaining béchamel and parmesan and bake for 40 minutes or until top is nicely browned and edges are crispy. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving.

Tip: You can also microwave bechamel if you prefer! For a quick microwave method of making béchamel sauce, melt the butter in a large microwave-safe pitcher. Add flour, whisk into a paste and add half of the milk. Microwave 2 minutes on high, whisk and add remaining milk, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Microwave in tiny batches, thick in between, until thick and smooth. Stir in 1 cup parmesan and bay leaves. Leave to cool for half an hour and remove the bay leaves.

Yum! One of my favorite Imbolc recipes. Who doesn’t love a cheesy and delicious lasagna!

Imbolc Recipe No. 3 Greek Salad with Sheep Cheese

Ingredients

• A block of sheep’s milk feta

4 ripe tomatoes

1 medium cucumber

• 1 red pepper

1 small red onion

• Good quality Kalamata olives

dressing

• 1 tsp honey
• ½ tsp Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons good quality olive oil
• 1-2 tsp white wine vinegar. I like my dressings on the acidic side, so I tend to use more vinegar, but start with less and add more flavor.

method

Wash all your vegetables.

Finely chop your red onion. Onion is a sharing taste. If you think a whole onion is too much, feel free to use less! Cut the tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers into bite-sized pieces. I like mine to be pretty chunky, but make whatever size you prefer here. Put in a bowl with the onion.

Pit the olives, cut into 1/4s and add to the bowl.

Make the dressing by adding honey, mustard, and oil to a small bowl. Whisk together with a fork until emulsified and creamy. Emulsifying these ingredients before adding the vinegar means the oil doesn’t separate out and you end up with a well-mixed dressing. Add the vinegar and mix.

Mix the dressing into the chopped vegetables.

Crumble the feta on top and give a light mixture. You don’t want to over mix the feta or it will completely break down into the salad.

Serve as a side with some bread to mop up the feta-filled dressing.

This is another beautiful way to serve a Greek salad. Cut the sheep’s cheese into large pieces and place on the salad.

Imbolc Recipe #4 Iceberg Wedge Salad with Yoghurt Dressing

This is a delicious, crunchy, and refreshing salad ideal for balancing the heaviness of the lasagna. The lemon gives it a great zest and the herbs give it a fragrant punch.

Ingredients

1 cup natural, unsweetened yogurt

• Juice of at least 1 lemon

2 tsp honey

1 tsp mustard

method

1. Cut your iceberg lettuce into 8 wedges and place on a large plate.

Make your dressing by adding yogurt, honey, and mustard to a small bowl. Whisk until well mixed. This may take a few minutes as the honey will harden as it is added to the cold yogurt. Check the taste and mix in the lemon juice until you have a delicious dressing that matches your taste for sourness. Season generously with salt and pepper.

2. Pour your yogurt dressing over the iceberg wedges. I line up the wedges, then slowly pour the dressing over from side to side so you get a tight zigzag of dressing over all of the lettuce wedges.

Scatter all your herbs on top and serve a wedge as one serving.

This is a great tip for removing the center stem of your lettuce and making this wedge salad.

Imbolc Recipe No. 5 Pumpkin Cream Caramel

I started doing this when I have friends! It might seem like a weird dessert, but trust me, it’s so delicious! It’s not overly sweet and only has a hint of bitterness from the caramel. You can make it a day ahead and store it in the fridge until you need it. This dessert actually tastes better the next day as the caramel has time to fully dissolve in a sauce.

This recipe was adapted from The Matcha Green.

Ingredients

• 350g steamed Hokkaido squash. Butternut squash would also be a delicious substitute.
• 4 eggs
• 1 egg yolk
• 130 grams of sugar
• 200ml milk
• 250 ml cream
• 1tsp rum
• 1/2 cinnamon

For the caramel

• 100 grams of sugar

20ml of water

method

1. Brush melted butter down the sides of a flangeale or 9-inch shallow cake pan. You can also use cooking spray here as long as it is tasteless.
2. Chop the squash into pieces and steam until very tender. If you don’t have a steamer, you can also cook the squash, although you may lose some of the flavor.

Prepare the caramel. Combine the sugar and water in a small pan. When making caramel, always make sure that there are no sugar crystals hiding on the edge of the pan. This can cause the sugar to crystallize. Use a damp pastry brush to catch any stray grains before you start heating. …