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

You beat me to it! Some cheeses contain animal rennet, Parmesan being one. However, most supermarkets sell an Italian style hard cheese which are usually vegetarian.
Fajitas are good for a mix of vegetarians and meat eaters as you can put in what you want.

If I was your veggie friend, I'd appreciate the fact you'd made something veggie for me, so if it makes like easier, just cook something you know works for you and won't take too long. Obviously you might decide to do veggies on the side, but a colourful salad always looks nice on the plate if you want to add something else.

I think this hassleback halloumi looks impressive but not time consuming. Looks like it would be nice stirred through pasta. Personally I’d have it with bit of chilli and spice have with vegetable cous cous and flat breads

https://www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/family/hasselback-halloumi-traybake/

If they like mushrooms, this is delicious (and easy!) edit to say I’ve made it with different cheeses and it’s always been good! https://www.mob.co.uk/recipes/mushroom-gnocchi-bake
Or as others have said, a veggie curry - sweet potato, chickpea and spinach go nicely together.

Yeah I know - but the choice of cheese is changeable, best lasagne that I have ever been served - I find vegetable lasagne to be clawing and rather dull. I was veggie for 25 years - most food I got served was pretty awful and that's just the restaurants. 😁
A mezze is great - easy and delicious - you just need to be able to shop well.
My days of slaving in the kitchen doing fancy dinner party dishes are over - friends come around to dinner - everything is a simple as possible, no starters and afters is always a good cheese board or someone else insists on bringing something sweet - not bothered which and I'd never ask.
https://www.emikodavies.com/orecchiette-con-broccoli-the-way-to-a-mans-heart/
This is my favourite pasta dish, easy to serve to a larger group, simple and delicious. Add pinenuts, lemon juice on the side if you want and of course make sure the parmesan is veggie.

https://www.waitrose.com/content/waitrose/en/home/recipes/recipe_directory/l/leek-mushroom-andgruyerepie.html

This is lovely and very easy to make. I prefer to omit the spuds and do some roasted on the side with rosemary, and replace with extra mushrooms. I've done it with mixed mushrooms for a bit of extra swag and that was great too. Any veg would work well alongside- I like spinach or green beans with garlic and a bit of lemon or a dressed salad.

Or a veggie pastitsio would work with your starters and be a bit more unusual than a veggie lasagne- lentils would be a nice base, don't have to be precooked

I'm veggie and love a risotto, so easy to make too!
I love goats cheese, pesto and peas in mine. Serve with garlic bread and salad. Simple.

Ingredients
Risotto rice
Knob of butter
Vegetable stock cubes
Goats cheese
Pesto
Peas

Chuck all in a pan and jeep staring until liquid is dissolved and rice is soft.

Voila!

Just dispense with courses and do a huge mezze

Not to derail but I'd say that would be your responsibility to let the host know, especially with such a common ingredient. Sounds a pain though.

I do. It’s not clear whether OP has direct line of sight to these people.

Been to lots of work conferences where I couldn’t eat because the organiser saw “vegetarian, tomato allergy” and just passed the first bit on.

So obviously the vegetarians won't sprinkle it on their meal! But no need for the rest of the guests to be deprived!

This is quick
boil spaghetti then in a pan gently fry
olive oil
garlic
half a teaspoon frozen chilli
zest of one lemon
table spoon capers
once pasta is cooked add to the pan over a low heat with
two bags of rocket
juice of the lemon
parmesan (or in your case vegetarian hard cheese)
serve when rocket is wilting
serve in a dish topped with halved cherry tomatoes and Parmesan shavings

Find out if the guests are vegetarian or vegan is the first step.
I don't eat any red meat fish or chicken but eat eggs and cheese.
I am sick to death of vegetarian lasagne, its usually the only option in restaurants/pub style.
For me, I would hate for the host to have to go out of their way, most main meals can be adjusted for vegetarians, no need for an entirely different meal.
Potatoes, rice, vegetables -everyone can eat.
If others are having chicken/meat, you can simply do a vegetarian burger (buy these -really cheap in food halls).

A vegi Paella? THen you can do chicken / prawn kebabs for the meat eaters to add.

Stuffed onions or peppers - stuff with rice, mushrooms, finely chopped pepper and serve cheese on the side.

An Indian thali - veg pakoras, onion bhajis, a couple of curries, rice and chutney.

Vegi wellington

Buy pre rolled chilled puff pastry.

Get a collection of different mushrooms and nuts, some mustard and herbs and fry, then cool.

Cut the pasty in two pieces, put the mushroom mix on one, leaving a boarder to seal.
Put the second piece on top, then score with a knife and put in the oven for 20 mins.

Veggie burger? They’re a minefield. Most now try to mimic meat (bleugh) and it’s not showing a guest much care to get something out of the freezer for them when cooking from scratch for everyone else.

(MIL was very pleased one Xmas with a “Linda McCartney cheddar and onion plait” that she had for me. It was basically
a cheese and onion pasty. :-/)

This is lovely, and looks good on the table. https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/baked-ratatouille-goats-cheese

I've made this a few times and it's absolutely delicious! Just use loads of chunky cut mushrooms instead of the chicken. You could always cook chicken separately for the meat eaters. Oxo do meat free chicken stock cubes. Serve it with some potatoes and asparagus.

https://www.playfulcooking.com/chicken-in-red-wine-sauce/

I think I can now see how we've ended up with mushroom risotto, lasagne and veggie burgers being the ubiquitous vegetarian options in this country 😬🤣

I second a mezze/ tapas type offering.. Lots of interesting dishes, pick a few you can prepare the day before. salad, dips, breads. (most of the below can be prepped the day before, so quick and easy to throw together.)

Cous cous with roasted veg, is quick and easy to make.
Stuffed potato skins.
Long sweet peppers roasted in balsamic and olive oil, with feta.
Large flat Mushrooms fried in garlic and olive oil, filled with cream cheese topped with breadcrumbs.
Grilled hallumi.
Aldi do a puff pastry, elemental cheese thing in their frozen section, it's really nice and easy.

Some meat offerings. Choritzo in red wine is always a hit.

My favourite type of meal.
I hate risotto.

I detest the tastes like meat looks like meat items. I don't like the texture of meat.
But you can get veggie burgers which are pure veg in most supermarkets frozen sections really cheap.

I’ll second the pasta alla norma @ShyMaryEllen suggested and the confit chickpeas from @Gunpowder. I made the chickpeas with Lidl’s tinned chickpeas. Both are really delicious and as a vegetarian I’d be thrilled with either of them.

What are you planning to serve to the meat eaters? It’s nice if the veggie dish can be cohesive with that. Or was the plan for everyone to eat veggie?

I must admit I might have misread the OP when I posted the pasta recipe, I thought the plan was for everyone to have the same meal. What I posted was too complicated if there was another main course.

Mushroom bourguignon for the main, with some cheesy garlic bread or cheese croutons on top.

Do you really need a starter? Nibbles and a starter might fill people up. A nice, not too heavy, pudding might go down better perhaps? Especially if it's cold and can be kept it nobody has room for it.