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

Braised portobella mushrooms with herby or nut stuffing are nice. Or butternut, slow roasted and stuffed.

Following with interest

This mushroom and chestnut suet pud makes a great centrepiece in place of a roast. I add extra to the gravy / sauce to deepen the savoury flavour. A bit of mustard, thyme, a dash of Lea and Perriins (not veggie, it has anchovies in - could use soy), mushroom ketchup, lots of black pepper).

I’s really good!

www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/m/mushroom_and_chestnut_puds_with_a_rich_red_wine_sauce.html

M&S vegan chicken kievs are amazing. I’m not veggi but I prefer them to meat ones.

@Theresacatonmylap My carnivourous friend also refers the meatless ones!!!

I don't like many nut roasts but as long as they are not too nutty - maybe contain cheese? I am ok.

I agree layers of big mushrooms in suet pastry is hearty. Personally I think the winning stuffingesque would be vegetarian haggis. So maybe suet pastry, mushrooms with a slathering of butter/mustard, and slice/scoop of haggis in layers.
I like prunes in my chestnut stuffing and plenty of fried onions.

If you like chicken, still do lots of lovely veg that work as a meal without meat, but perhaps (at least sometimes) do some lovely thighs or part boned breasts (still with bones and skin on), just for yourself even if you wouldn't use leftovers from a full roast in the following days (lots of leftover meals or cooked chicken freezes really well as well as jus the following few days).

I just do a roast with everything except the meat. I was so pleased to find a pub that did the same once. They just asked if you wanted extra potatoes or extra cauliflower cheese (tough choice!).

Last time I had a roast I had a Quorn escalope with it .

I’m pleased a pub has cottoned on to this. It’s what I ask for, I don’t always get it, one pub I ended up with chips for Sunday lunch as they couldn’t do it without the meat????

@ParrotTurtle I understand that about your original stuffing recipe, but by looking at recipes you might get some good ideas to replace bits of your original one?!

you could post it on here & maybe we could make some suggestions?!

Pie roast! All the trimmings then an individual pie of choice. We do this a lot as have meat eaters, veggies and vegans in the family. Gravy and the veg is easy enough to make vegan and then people can choose their own pie e.g. DH usually has steak and kidney and I have cheese and onion.

Could you smoosh out the filling from Richmond sausages or even the meatballs and use this as the middle of your stuffing recipe? Might be rank, or it might work.

I love this chestnut cream stuffing from the Dairy Book of Home Cookery:

Quarter lb dried chestnuts, soaked overnight, or half pound fresh chestnuts
Quarter 1b fresh bread crumbs
2 level teaspoons of finely-grated onion
Half level teaspoon of salt
Quarter level teaspoon of grated nutmeg
Good shake of white pepper
2oz butter, melted
Fresh single cream

1 Cook chestnuts in boiling salted water til tender (20-30 mins)
2 Mince chestnuts finely then combine with other dry ingredients
3 Bind with melted butter and fresh cream

No cooking instructions as the book assumes you stuff it into a chicken/turkey. Stick it in a dish in the oven

You can use an egg to bind stuffing.

For roasts, Linda macartneys cheese plaits were the go to for us for years for a veggie roast.

But you can go to any freezer section these days and pick up loads of options. When I went veggie in 1984, there was nothing apart from cheese pasties. And those weren't even made with vegetarian cheddar. If you wanted something you had to make it by hand.

I would think about how trying to 'replace' meat in the meal, but think about what you both love that's vegetarian that showcases lovely vegetables/legumes/whatever you enjoy. I was a vegetarian for 20 years (not anymore but most of what I eat is still vegetarian). For a roast, I mostly just love all the sides. You can't go wrong with roast potatoes, a tray of roasted veg (peppers, carrots, parsips, fennel, squash, etc.), steamed or sauteed green veg (I usually do kale), leek/cauliflower/broccoli cheese. For the 'main' if you will, I've often had stuffed mushrooms, cauliflower steaks, halloumi, paneer, some sort of baked goat's cheese/feta tart, mac and cheese. But really it's all about the veg for me. Good sides are better than some fake meat thing everytime.

I just love cauliflower cheese and all the roast veg.

😋 sometimes I just have more of the roast veggies and stuffing, and nothing else.

Richmond vegan sausages are perfect for a sausage roast tray bake and yorky puds.

God I'm hungry now.

I’m vegetarian and I don’t like nut roasts.they aren’t compulsory. I usually just have sides. For an occasion I’ll have centrepiece. Delia’s parsnip roulade is wonderful, but a faff though you could make and freeze in single servings.

I would probably try a different stuffing recipe than try to vegetarianise yours. It will be different and probably not as nice. Or at least have separate stuffings if possible.

We had a veggie Christmas meal this year, because our guests were veggie, and I made this, from Olive magazine - butternut squash, ricotta and sage wreath.

It looks (and tastes!) amazing, but it was actually really easy to make. It uses Jus-Rol croissant dough to form the wreath.

To replace the meat/pâté element of your stuffing, I'd use mushrooms, but also some dried porcini (rehydrated) as they have a more meaty/umami flavour.

Use your recipe split it half and add the bacon and pate to yours and add hummus or blend some beans to the veggie half and paprika and other spices

DD has some sort of meaty burger - no bull burger or the mushroom steak burger from Iceland. They are thick so not dry. She has the vegetables, Yorkshire and gravy from granules.

The vegetarian option at a Sunday roast place last week was a vegetarian burger on a brioche bun and chips which was awful when we were all having roast dinners so she had the burger with all the vegetables etc from the roast

Field mushrooms are a good meat substitute.

For a 'normal' roast, I would skip the meat and just have sides, they're the best bit anyway IMO. I guess it depends on the reason for the vegetarianism but most of the substitutes are highly processed, far less healthy and worse for the environment that a slice of roast chicken. Anyway, that's not the question.

For a special occasion with time to cook, I'd make Delia's parsnip roulade instead of meat.
www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/vegetarian-recipes/cheese-and-parsnip-roulade-with-sage-and-onion-stuffing

Thanks so much for all your suggestions. I've been making notes.

We don't tend to have roast dinners all that often - every five or six weeks. Then a huge one at Christmas and Easter. I'm heading towards a combination of all the suggestions here 😆So beefing up [excuse the pun] the side dishes and trying some new ones. And also giving a meat substitute centre piece a try. That way if the meat substitute is shit, at least we'll have lots of lovely side dishes.

It's a good idea to just cook the meaty stuffing for me and leave DP to his own non-meat recipes. I can't believe I didn't actually think of this earlier. I'm so dumb.

DP's gone vegetarian because he started subscribing to a US animal rescue/rehabilitation centre on YouTube which has shown that all the animals we'd usually eat have complex personalities and feelings. He can't bring himself to eat meat now.

I'm more ambivalent. I've never been a huge fan of meat so I'm happy with our new vegetarian menu. However, there are some meals that I struggle to have meat-free, a roast dinner being one of them. If possible I'll always try to buy meat which has been well-cared for for these meals.