Vegetarian Roast Dinners?

[ParrotTurtle]

My DP has gone vegetarian.

Pre-vegetarianism our roast dinners were like a medieval banquet of meat - the joint itself, two types of stuffing, pigs in blankets, roast vegetables with lardons.

We've solved some of these things but there are a couple of sticking points.

The Stuffing: We usually use this recipe. We're going to try scrapping the bacon in it and replacing the pate with a vegetarian version. Is vegan/vegetarian ardennes-style pate any good? Will it suffice as a replacement?

The Joint: We usually have chicken. That's not possible. Vegetarian chicken is a poor substitute. What do other people have instead of the main joint in vegetarian roast dinners?

DP isn't keen on nut roast.

Thanks for all your help

I am not typical as I do not usually have a veggie roast. Have a look at the recipe blog Tinned Tomatoes. She does a lot of veggie recipes.

www.tinnedtomatoes.com/2016/04/main-course-recipes.html

Look particularly under Christmas recipes.

Past Family Christmases I used Veggie sausages and had yorkies and roasties but I don't bother with that now or any particular roast at weekends. I have had the nut roast at pub lunches but I noticed my fave one does my favourite Mushroom and Ale pie which is lush and has the world's best gravy! It is a Greene King pub if you/husband are interested!

To be honest I like the Quorn nuggets but the Quorn roast is very dry without a sauce or gravy.

I don't bother with the 'joint'

I don't make my own stuffing either! If I was going to, I'd look up recipes. It's been SO long since I ate non vegetarian stuffing (over 30 years) I can't really tell you what compares.

Personally I like roast Brussels sprouts, parsnips & potatoes. Broccoli & Cauli and Yorkshire puddings & mushy peas.

Your Roast is very neat centric. I'm surprised your DH has chosen to go veggie.

Thanks for that link @Deathraystare There are some lovely recipes on there!

That's my thought @JugglingJanuary - that he mightn't be able to have 'the joint' bit of the roast, just the accessory and side dishes.
I've found a few vegetarian stuffing recipes but I'm absolutely addicted to the chestnut one in the OP so was hoping to try and replicate that as closely as possible 😭

nut roast always sounds revolting (to me anyway) but there are so many varieties, some ARE revolting, but some are nice.

personally I find anything like that is FAR nicer cooked until the outside us crispy/crunchy not undercooked.

Cauldron sausages are really nice IF YOU CAN GET ANY of the previous vegetarian recipe, the 'VEGAN' ones are disgusting!! They're like piped pate into the tray and once cooked & cooled the skin goes all slimy. They have a hot dog texture, not a sausage texture.

companies are systematically ruining vegetarian food, turning it into vegan! I eat a reasonable amount of home cooked vegan food, which I enjoy, but whatever they're using commercially really isn't nice.

If I can be bothered to make it, I have some kind of vegetarian Wellington or en croute - maybe butternut or mushroom or lentil.

DS is veggie.
When he is home for a Sunday dinner I do either veggie sausages or a Linda McCartney roast for him, (he doesn't mind fake meat). I do sage and onion stuffing and vegetable gravy.

Mushroom Wellington is lovely though faffy to make.

I tend to do a usual roast with Yorkshire puddings, cauliflower cheese, red cabbage and quite often don't do a meat "replacement ". I have used them before though and find them a mixed bag.

Making a wellington sounds like a nightmare.
If DP wants to make one, I always enjoy us cooking together and we do it as a joint venture. But there's no chance I'm wasting hours of my life making one on my own😅He had a ready-made mushroom wellington from Morrisons the other day and said it was okay (a bit dry) that so that's a possibility.

@WhoNeedsSleepNotISaidMyBody I don't actually mind some vegan sausages. DP absolutely hates them.

Aldi do an amazing veggie roasting "joint" that DH and I get a lot. We'll also get things like mushroom wellingtons. And a million sides.

Asda do a really lovely red onion and garlic stuffing.

Thanks @tattychicken I'm leaning towards not bothering replacing the joint and just having lots of side dishes.

@JorisBonson Oooh, that's interesting. Thank you. Could you please link it? I love your name BTW, I'm going to go and watch that video just now!

groceries.aldi.co.uk/en-GB/p-plant-menu-no-chicken-roasting-joint-380g/4088600551586

This is it and it's lush. Think they do a beef one too.

Jinx!

I'm married to a veggie. We use Quorn beef roast. With bisto gravy (which you can get veggie) it's actually not bad. You can get veggie pigs in blanket too (M&S ones are nice apparently). We use paxo stuffing, but making your own is easy enough.

I tend to put meat stuff in separate - like real pigs in blanket.

You could try the Quorn roast. It is literally a largeish cuboid of mycoprotein. I know that sounds absolutely revolting but once you serve it with all the trimmings, it actually tastes quite nice.
Otherwise, Tesco website recipe for nut roast is lush. Clive's ready made nut roast barely has any nuts in it, but you can load a homemade one with nuts and punchy flavours.

With regards to the chestnut stuffing, I'd just leave out the fake bacon and pate. Vegetarian or vegan bacon is usually rank. If it's not rank, it's just unpleasant.

If I do a "roast" I make lentil slice from the Rose Elliot book as I think it goes well with roast potatoes and lots of veg and gravy.

Dd has mushroom wellington ir similar usually, the rest of us have meat

@Roundaboot God, vegetarian bacon is the worst. I absolutely wouldn't use it. But I have to use pate in that recipe, it holds the whole thing together. Is vegetarian pate any good?

Thanks for all the recommendations, all noted.

That does actually look really nice @JorisBonson I'm not vegetarian but might opt for this instead of my capon!

The Wicked turkey crown is good

Why isn't he keen on nut roast? Has he had a nice home made one? And by nice I mean not vegan. They're dry as dust without cheese and egg to bind it. This is the closest I can find to the recipe I usually use (leave the lentils out, they just make the texture weird) www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf

The key to it is the breadcrumbs, cheese and egg. They keep it moist, the rest you can mess about with.

I "make" stuffing by using a pack sage onion stuffing, a finely chopped onion, a handful of frozen whole cranberries (I buy each dec 27th in bulk discounted, zest and juice of an orange and freeze) and a teaspoon cinnamon.

The wellingtons are usually Lidl

My experience of vegan pate is that it's awful. I'd rather have a mushroom one but that might not work for your recipe. Vegan bacon is also all gross except for vivera bacon bits which are excellent.

I've been a veggie for years but the rest of the family are all still meat-eating. They still have full roasts like always and I just focus on more side dishes, extra Yorkshire puddings and roast potatoes. There are loads of decent veggie stuffings too.

I don't mind the Quorn roasts. They're pretty good with cranberry sauce, bread sauce and stuffing - especially as a leftovers sandwich in a bun!

There are some great vegetarian restaurants these days perhaps a few trips out for inspiration
The Sundial kitchen in Bristol does a monthly vegetarian/ vegan Sunday roast I've attached their latest menu for that for some ideas, they also are veggie through the week.

@ProfYaffle He's had a few different nut roasts - homemade which was a disaster, at restaurants and from the shops. He finds them a bit 'meh', a bit dry and flat on flavour. I don't know if they've been vegan or vegetarian versions. The one we made at home wasn't vegan and it was horrible - really tasteless and weird almost crumbly texture.