Vegetarian option for Christmas dinner?

[Iwantmorechocolate]

I’ve got vegetarian gravy and vegetables, but what can I do to replace the turkey (I don’t want to do two meals and it’s for a newly vegetarian family member).

@NeverRTFT

Nut roast recipe

Oh Lord I recognise that book, what is it?!

I usually do a Quorn roast or a shop bought nut roast. Sometimes both.
I've recently tried the festive lentil and mushroom nut roast from Asda (which is actually vegan) and both DS and I would be happy to have it for Christmas Day. It is a little softer than I'd like, so it's hard to serve it neatly, but it tasted nice enough.

Quorn roast is the most like a turkey dinner, so might be the best bet for a new vegetarian. You can also use the leftovers in sandwiches for a snack or for Boxing Day.

@AmandaHoldensLips

I had a sodding vegan round the christmas lunch table last year. NEVER AGAIN.

Why? It’s not really any more difficult than a vegetarian. Lots of the options suggested here are also vegan.

I usually have a quorn roast! Just chuck in the oven, and can be eaten cold with chutney etc buffet style or in a sarnie after.
Not very interesting but easy if it's only for one. I'm the only veggie so don't expect anyone to cook anything special for me and likewise, don't want to be faffing about cooking for just myself either!

Definitely check with them. I can't stand a nut roast, and don't like cauliflower cheese with a roast. (It's a meal in itself, not a veg for roast dinner - but that's another thread!)

I have has various nut roasts iver the years.
Dh once bought mea cheese veggie pie which would have been nice on another day but I like veggie gravy on my Christmas dinner.

If you go the sausage route, these are amazing...

I've had all sorts from puffs to but roasts, pies, quorn products. But actually I do quite like a decent veggie sausage. Or, just loads of different veg and stuffing.

A tofurkey! Very nice?

@PurpleDaisies

I am at home. But I’m not going to put people out.

Well, that’s your choice but it’s really unhelpful for actual vegetarians if people who aren’t say that they are. I’ve been given fish, meat gravy, potatoes cooked in lard, Yorkshire puddings cooked in dripping etc because supposed vegetarians have eaten those things. There was one miserable meal where I had boiled carrots, boiled broccoli and peas because everything else had meat in it.

“I’m vegetarian” means something specific. There’s nothing wrong with not being one.

What? It’s unhelpful to ask a vegetarian what they would like to eat? That’s why you’d talk to them surely? In the same way some vegetarians don’t like meat substitutes like quorn.

My eating a non veggie gravy or animal fat potatoes isn’t meant to be “unhelpful” to the cause it’s because I wouldnt want to be an added stress to the cook on the biggest day of the year.

I made these last year for our veggie guest www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/beetroot-squash-wellingtons-kale-pesto.
Makes 4, quite easy and free able, I made them a week early, tried one and froze the rest. Pop in oven on the day, no hassle.

I've ordered these two things from Tesco and will also have some Camembert in reserve...

There should be quite a range of decent options in the supermarkets.

@PenguindreamsofDraco
Recipe book called "so what DO you eat?" By Liz Cook. V old, still in print, highly recommend its full of really simple very tasty family food. Lots more veggie meals for the whole family using this book since DD turned vegetarian

Definitely agree as a general principle just ask people. But I do want to add a plea that roast potatoes in animal meat or meat based gravy is really not vegetarian. I am vegetarian, and whilst there are some grey areas there is a difference between "I don't eat meat" and being vegetarian. I don't consider it a hassle for my family and friends to accommodate that and I always offer to help/bring stuff. As someone above posted, there is nothing wrong in not being vegetarian, but the label is important to those of us who are.

DS is veggie and this is my go-to nut roast recipe, it is delicious:

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf

You can make up the mix in advance and freeze, then put in the tin and roast on the day. I've never bothered with the sauce it suggests.

@LittleMissMoggy

Definitely agree as a general principle just ask people. But I do want to add a plea that roast potatoes in animal meat or meat based gravy is really not vegetarian. I am vegetarian, and whilst there are some grey areas there is a difference between "I don't eat meat" and being vegetarian. I don't consider it a hassle for my family and friends to accommodate that and I always offer to help/bring stuff. As someone above posted, there is nothing wrong in not being vegetarian, but the label is important to those of us who are.

Very much this.