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've never had fake meat pate, only mushroom pate. That recipes does have 2 eggs in, would that not bind it well enough?

@PotatoCatkin That's good to know, thanks. Mushroom pate might work I guess. But I'll have to disagree about Vivera bacon bits - they are awful. They taste like dog treats 😅

@wonkylegs That looks like an amazing restaurant/pub. Yum!

My DD loves a veggie Higgidy pie with all the trimmings when we have a roast dinner.

Sorry, I meant holds it together in two different ways - it binds it (helps the eggs out, I don't know if the eggs would bind it enough on their own), but also holds it together in terms of the pate being like the centre piece/the main ingredient in terms of flavour and texture.

My solution to vegetarian roast dinners is to stop trying to recreate a roast dinner and enjoy the veggie meal in its own right.

As others have pointed out, most things trying to imitate a joint are horrible.

My DH was very reluctant about eating veggie meals but loves Anna Jones recipes, especially anything she label's a feast.

I only like them 'in' things that require a bacon taste - like carbonara etc.
They are very salty!

The best roast I've had was at a restaurant and then reproduced at home with great success. Butternut squash halved, de-seeded, some olive oil on the inside and filled with cauliflower cheese. Then bake and served with all the trimmings. Absolutely lovely.

RE the stuffing, I had never had stuffing with sausage-meat or any other meaty addition, until at my MiLs when early twenties. My mum made ours with just breadcrumbs, fresh parsley and sage, onion, some sort of fat, lemon zest and egg. It binds perfectly well... I was a bit taken aback by the meaty stuffings, I always thought stuffing was to stretch the meat - self defeating if it too contains meat.

I've said 'meat' 'stuffing' and 'meaty stuffing' far too often in that.

Bisto is vegetarian, pack stuffing, broccoli or cauliflower cheese, potatoes, Italian lemon cabbage, yorkshires, any other veg. We're not vegetarian but my kids mostly don't eat the meat anyway. The side are the best bit of a roast!

@CheeseandGherkins that sounds lovely!

Cor I could inhale that right now.

I'm veggie and if I do cook a roast dinner would basically do something like vegetarian lasagne. I'll cook a whole tray of it, which would give 6-8 portions, most of which would go in the freezer. With the sauce you don't need any gravy or stuffing or anything like that, just roasties and veg. Stuffed peppers are also quite nice.

The trouble with nut roasts or pastry things like pies or wellingtons is they're just too stodgy to eat with all the trimmings, so you end up feeling a bit bloated afterwards.

Fake joints, etc, grim! However I have previously had some Quorn Escalopes which taste quite nice (the mozarella ones). But I'd normally grab something home made out of the freezer.

This cheese and nut loaf is a lot of faff, not difficult, just time-consuming - but really worth the effort and the excess can easily be frozen. Martha Stewart nut roast My staunchly only-meat-eating husband really enjoys it, which is quite a feat!

We usually go for a quorn roast or a gammon roast with vege sausages and bacon pigs in blanket.

My wife is veggie, and alergic to some nuts so nut roasts are out for her. I do the cooking mostly - when we have a roast, I'll have either braised beef, or roast chicken or a small joint and she has either vegeterian sausages ( she prefers Linda McCartney red onion ones ), or she makes either toad in the hole using same sausages, or just largish yorkshire puddings - not a lot of extra cooking, and it works for us.

My veggie Xmas dinners always include a potato dauphinoise and cauli cheese.
I also suggest defrosting some Linda McCartney sausages, and mush them up with sautéed onions and mushrooms with some generic stuffing, sage and onion or some diced apple cooked in a bit of salted butter for a change to the mushroom.
Quorn do steaks and lamb chops, I don't really bother with them but I'd be happy to be served and eat it.

Normal red bisto gravy is veggie. Love it.

Love higgidy pies.

I've had some roast dinners where something was made out of half a butternut squash. Love the Wellingtons too.

Linda McCartney sausages but I see you say he doesn't like them.

Might be worth working your way through the variety of fake meats on offer in chilled & frozen to see what you like. Some are God awful, some are amazing. I love the Frys brand they've been going for years.

Due to cost & avoiding processed foods I don't go mad with "fake meat" but each payday il try a few new items.

We do cauliflower cheese or nut stuffing, maybe brie and cranberry in puff pastry, and Yorkshire

I’m veggie in a house full of meat eaters.

I just do loads of sides.
cheesy leeks, sage and onion, red cabbage, Yorkshire pudding, roast carrots, kale, broccoli, roast parsnips, ALOT of potatoes. If I wanted a main I would get the aldi spinach, leek and cheese pastries from the freezer.

the meat eaters appreciate the sides too and it stretches the meat into left overs for the week.

Not all nut roasts are created equal. Some are truly dire, but Felicity Cloake's ultimate nut roast for the Guardian is good.

I normally do a red lentil, cheese and tomato bake: layer cooked red lentils (flavoured with stock and chopped sage) , grated cheddar and a simple tomato sauce, like you'd have on pasta. Bake for half an hour. Serve with onion and red wine gravy. It's not very refined, but it's a favourite with the DC.

Or a pie. You can't go wrong with a pie.

Bosh mushroom wellington is amazing!!! www.bosh.tv/recipes/bosh-classic-mushroom-wellington

Vegetarian en croute, here is an easy one.
[https://thehappyfoodie.co.uk/recipes/mary-berrys-spinach-and-mushroom-en-croute/]]
Serve with roasted beetroot salad

Keep your stuffing! He's gone veggie not you! He can make a paxo stuffing.

I think that you may need to trial and error the stuffing: mushroom pate is the nearest texture to liver pate but probably don't set quite the same. The bacon will add saltiness as well as solidity.
A little marmite could provide the saltiness but you'll need something else for the texture. Maybe go for feta and a little extra egg to offset the crumbliness?
Please come back and let us know how you get on.

No idea on really good roast alternatives: I asked the same question a while back and the best thing that was suggested was a delicious chestnut and mushroom pie but that would make your stuffing redundant!