Last minute vegetarian dinner party ideas

[Feeltoooldtostudybutdoingitanyway]

As the title says, tomorrow I'm hosting a very last minute dinner party, just for six people but two of them are vegetarians.

I cook quite a lot of vegetarian meals, but none of them are particular fancy/interesting & some of them take quite a while.

I won't be home until about half 5 & guests will be arriving between 6:30 & 7

I was thinking of having some nice bread with olive oil, some olives & some hummus with bread sticks on the table for when they arrive.

Then maybe a soup as a starter? Or a Feta salad, neither are overly fancy but I think they will be okay.

Pudding wise I've got a collection of quick bakes I can do, so that's fine.

But it's the main course I'm a bit stumped on. If anyone has any ideas/links to recipes, I'd really appreciate it. Thanks

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/collection/vegetarian-dinner-party-recipes

Do you have time the day before to make something that can be reheated?

Veggie lasagne with garlic bread and salad

Fajitas/tacos? Everyone serves themselves. I normally do grated cheese, salad leaves, tomato, yoghurt, jalepenos, salsa, refried beans, rice and the fajita chicken. You could also do onions and peppers in the same fajita flavours, or add a veggie mince option.

is this a 'DH invited Boss/visiting colleagues/potential clients' type dinner or a friends thing??

either way I'd go with a soup everyone can eat.

friends - vegetarian lasagne.for everyone.

What are you doing for the meat eaters? DH's balls on a platter will only go so far...

Yes a lasagne sounds nice (with lentils not fake mince - we use those merchant gourmet ones they are expensive but still cheaper than meat) or a pasta? Is that really dull, I've been veggie 18 years and clearly am not too exciting

Curry? With aforementioned lentils and coconut milk, could make your own roti that's all easy

Do they eat cheese? Halloumi salad meme type sitch might be nice?

http://www.saltsugarandi.com/2019/04/pasta-alla-norma.html

This is a bit more adventurous (and less faffy) than a vegetarian lasagne, and is delicious.

Veggie moussaka?

https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/leek-and-butternut-squash-canneloni/1258977
This is lovely

The photo is not of the finished meal 😀

For something last minute, and with a tight schedule due to work, I would probably make roasted veg over pasta with a garlic/olive oil/lemon/fresh basil sauce with grilled prawns for the omnivores.

Appreciate it’s uncommon but I don’t eat meat and am allergic to tomatoes. I couldn’t eat anything in the work canteen today because all the veggie food had tomatoes in it. :-/

Worth checking for allergies.

You can wrap pretty much anything in ready-made puff pastry to turn it into something that looks dinner party worthy, with very little fuss.

I did it last week with a mixture of leeks, spinach and mushrooms (sautéed until soft), then mixed in some walnuts and blue cheese, wrapped it in puff pastry, bunged it in the oven for about 25 minutes and it looked like I had put much more effort in than I really had...

Aubergine moussaka. Bit more exciting than veggie lasagna, just as easy.

Do a curry using a mix of veg instead of meat, you can buy pouches of rice and daal to heat in a microwave, a bowl of plain yoghurt mixed with a spoon of mint sauce is delicious with poppadoms.

Mary Berry's roast veg and Roquefort filo strudel. Loved by my vegetarian and carnivore friends alike

www.agacookshop.co.uk/char-grilled-vegetable-strudel.html

Pasta Primavera, make it with spaghetti or pasta shapes, use a selection of green vegetables, peas, mange-tout, asparagus, green beans, broccoli tips, Roman cauliflower, spinach leaves. Prepare the vegetables beforehand so they can be quickly cooked while the pasta is cooking.
Serve with Parmesan.

For the feta salad starter you could buy some tubs of Waldorf salad, apple walnuts cabbage celery, that would make a quick and easy starter.

I think celeriac's still in season. How about a celery and celeriac soup to start, followed by spinach, broad bean and olive pappardelle and tiramisu for pudding? Or some kind of chocolate torte? I think I would buy in the torte/desert given your time frame.

This is my favourite pasta recipe and it's relatively quick and simple compared to lasagne:

For the pappardelle use a good quality egg pappardelle, Sainsbury's sell it fresh in bags. They also sell walnut oil in their larger stores, and the Italian hard cheese.

You also need best quality kalamata olives, walnut oil and Italian hard cheese (i.e. vegetarian parmesan) and a very large quantity of fresh spinach (get more than you think you will need).

• Wilt the spinach down in a pan then set aside
• Briefly cook frozen baby broad beans, set aside
• Make "parmesan" shavings, also set aside. Do extra to put on the table.
• Finely slice some garlic cloves, as fine as you possibly can, like slivers
• Gather your ingredients
• Preheat pasta bowls
• Boil your pappardelle in rolling boil water
• Drain pasta
• In a large pan, heat some extra virgin olive oil on a super low heat with the garlic slivers. Do not brown the garlic, remove from heat if necessary to stop it cooking.
• Add the olives, wilted spinach, broad beans and cooked pappardelle and warm them together, adding a few turns of freshly ground black pepper.
• When it's all heated through, transfer to preheated pasta bowls, drizzle liberally with walnut oil and top with "parmesan" shavings. Serve quickly, don't allow to cool down. Put out a small dish of "parmesan" shavings if people want extra.

I've tried to make an ingredients list but at this time of night it may not be accurate:

Egg pappardelle
Fresh baby spinach leaves (lots)
Kalamata olives
Italian hard cheese
Garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Walnut oil
Frozen baby broad beans (fresh are out of season)
Pine nuts
Black pepper

I'm a big fan of risotto for a mixed group - a natter in the kitchen while I make it doesn't hurt if there's a close friend in the group. It works if someone happens to be gluten free as well and I can do it without cheese and butter if needed for dairy free / lactose intolerant/ vegan (and put a block of cheese on the table for people to add if they like).

Serve with roasted veg (I like doing cocktail tomatoes on the vine and roasted asparagus with lemon and black pepper as I can prep ahead and just pop in the oven). If you have any meat die hards you can serve something on the side (sausages work pretty well, but frankly I don't see the need being veggie myself!)

@Feeltoooldtostudybutdoingitanyway I was also going to suggest a risotto - mushroom one is a firm family favourite here. We had beef wellington for the meat eaters last night and for one of the vegetarian elder daughters I made a cheese and tomato tartlet.
Puff pastry (shop bought) cut in half. Roll up the sides to create a ‘dish’ spread French mustard across the bottom. Sprinkle over grated cheese (I used a mix of Gruyère and cheddar) then lay on top a mix of sliced tomatoes (I used vine and coloured Santorini). Season. Bake on a baking sheet for 30/35 mins at 180. (It looks as fancy as the amount of time you give to tomato placement and pastry roll design..)

A 5 cheese lasagna made with layers of cheese, ricotta, mozzarella, provolone, Parmesan and maybe a creamy Gorgonzola with tomato sauce made from Mutti tomatoes and some fresh basil, serve with green salad - and garlic bread for a retro touch.

Tofu enchiladas... just follow the pack and put in fried tofu instead of chicken, lots of grated courgette and carrot balances the recipe.

5 cheese lasagne sounds delicious but not all those cheeses are vegetarian.

https://ottolenghi.co.uk/recipes/confit-tandoori-chickpeas

ottolenghi confit chickpeas are delicious, special enough for a dinner party and very easy. You just shove everything into a big pan and leave it in the oven. It does need 90 mins IIRC though. You need to use the chickpeas that come in a jar if possible, but tinned ones are fine if not.

Parmesan is not vegetarian.