Help! Vegetarian coming for Christmas dinner

[Allaboutthegirliguess]

So we planned to have a quiet Christmas this year, but my son is now coming with his vegetarian girlfriend.

Can anyone help with what we can make her please.
We will be having a roast, meat, and our potatoes are cooked in goose fat.
Ideally I need something that wont create an issue as we are cooking our meal!
So maybe can be done before or done in the airfyer.

Hoping someone can come up with an idea
Tia

As DD is vegetarian we tend to make the whole meal vegetarian with a side of pigs in blankets. DD usually cooks on Christmas day, with me as sous chef.

I'm not overly fond of turkey so I do a small turkey crown on Boxing day for DH and me to eat with the leftovers.

i agree that you just need to have a conversation with the GF first about likes, dislikes, allergies etc. Why wouldn't you?

Just ask her. That is the easiest and simplest solution.

As the only veggie at my Christmas table, I always make myself Delia Smith's 'cheese and parsnip roulade with sage and onion stuffing'. It's not low effort, but you could make it the day before. Or if it's too much bother, just suggest she bring her own main and you'll do some extra veggie sides (sage and onion stuffing is usually accidentally vegan anyway, most supermarkets do veggie pigs in blankets now, parsnips, carrots etc...). Personally I'd rather have the choice than feel like I had to eat a Quorn roast.

Yes. Though I always feel awkward at neither eating meat nor Quorn.
Most people have made me a gratin or bake of some kind, which I am happy with. A nut roast is fine too.

You don’t have to cook the potatoes on goose fat. If you avoid that a meaty gravy- you could make cauliflower cheese as a side / main alternative. I also like the sound of the butternut squash main/side below. Both are simple and real .

Can they have some wafer thin ham?

I'm veggie and just like a Yorkshire pudding or three with onion gravy. I cook Christmas dinner for everyone and just have everything except the meat .

Don't make meaty roast potatoes so as to keep it simple.

That would make them not vegetarian. 😀

Your post seems to indicate that vegetarianism is an absolute mystery to you. 'hope someone can come up with an idea'- there are so many vegetarian recipes, ready meals. It's not going to be a stab in the dark.

You can do some separate potatoes in oil. You can buy a vegetarian ready meal if you don't want to make something. You can put both those things in the air fryer.

The poor girl doesn't sound as if she's welcome as you're worried cooking something vegetarian will spoil your meal in some way - 'create an issue while we're cooking our meal'. I think I'd make sure you don't let these feelings come out during the day.

Ask her! I’ve been veggie for 30 years and I’ve eaten some GLORIOUS Christmas dinners in that time. Marks have a lovely range, but so does Lidl and Aldi to be fair!

In the first instance I would ask her!

In general I don't like fake meat, but you get lovely veggie Christmas things from the supermarkets - butternut wellingtons, root veg tarts, etc. For potatoes you can either cook yours in oil, or just buy a bag of frozen roasties and cook hers separately. Veggie gravy can be bought pre-made, and then the rest of the veg should be fine.

The first thing is to speak to your son’s gf. My uncle, for example, would often come to us for Christmas (but we never knew until Christmas Eve, or even Christmas morning). He just brought a veggie option from M & S which could be shoved in the oven. My mum used vegetable oil for the roast potatoes anyway. He didn’t much like cheese, so we never had to worry about whether the cheese was vegetarian friendly - but in my experience, lots of vegetarians don’t worry about this.

Reading this, it sounds a little inhospitable that my uncle provided his main dish - but actually, it meant no pressure at all on Mum. She simply chucked in a couple of extra potatoes, and chopped a few more carrots. But I’m sure you’ll want to make sure you have catered properly for your son’s gf - particularly if it’s the first Christmas she’s spend with you.

Mum would also make sure the Christmas Pudding and Mince Pies were veggie (& nut free as dbro was allergic) - not as easy as all that back in the 80s. Lots of different puddings are usual now, so that’s less of an issue.

@autumnalannie Wellington sounds ideal, and won't look out of place on her dinner plate,

It’s easy to do separate quick roasties in the air fryer: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/air-fried-roast-potatoes

I personally am a happy-with just-the-trimmings-at-Christmas type veggie. We normally have a cauliflower cheese which is more like a main for me, and a side for everybody else.

I'd just check vegetarian and not vegan. Apart from that normal roast vegetables, obviously without animal fats, nut roast ,veggie gravy from m and s, check ingredients on Christmas pudding etc. Vegan chocs from Hotel Chocolat. Job done.

I think you are spot on. I would frame it as making the whole meal vegetarian except for the roast meat, gravy and pigs in blankets. It isn't difficult. Just ditch the goose fat and use oil instead.

Deffo find out what meat alternative she likes or has at Xmas.
It's a matter of taste, for me I hate nut roast I like a substitute that's chewy. Some people hate Quorn roasts I like them. Just cook it alot longer than instructions as it can end up rubbery like underdone chicken.
I bung mine in first thing, then slice up nearer to serving time and zap in microwave.
I'm old school and still love sage and onion stuffing.
As for sausages Linda McCartney red onion ones are tasty too.

Do the roast potatoes in olive oil

M&S have a delicious looking vegetable wellington this year, Wellington's are fantastic but so much faff to make

This, i never use fat for roast vegetables, just sunflower oil.

Ask her!

Many veggies aren't keen on fake meat. A lot of people get digestive issues from Qiorn. I think the Quorn roast tastes like rancid sorbo rubber, as well as being the most boring food item known to man. But there are loads of very easy, tasty, preprepared items than can go in the airfryer or only need a small corner of the oven.

Sainsbury's roast onion gravy is good, and veggie.

In blind taste tests olive oil roast potatoes beat goose fat. Leave the bacon out of the sprouts - have it in a separate dish for those who want it. The rest of the veg should be fine.

Most mince pies and xmas puds are veggie these days, but do check for suet.

Veggie here. DH does roast potatoes with garlic and rosemary cooked in vegetable oil. Cauliflower cheese, leeks, carrots and parsnips. Bisto onion gravy. Yorkshire puddings. Then he cooks whatever meat he wants for him and I have a marble (Waitrose) with cranberry sauce. Delicious. and very little extra work to cook the marble in a dish in the oven. I also have roasted vine tomatoes with garlic and olive oil if we have some.

Decide how much of your planned food is veggie anyway.
See where the alternative is plain an easy (potatoes in plant oil).

Ask before you'd be buying something specifically for her - it being non-meat isn't enough to ensure that the person will fancy it. Quorn, nut roast, soya, fake meat, all can be vegetarian, but not liked by a specific person.

Maybe instead of jumping to quorn, think about normal food which just happens to be vegetarian? If she can get potatoes and sides with you, adding something simple like hot camembert (pick one marked as vegetarian/with Microbial rennet) from owen can be it.

Choose two or three options which are simple enough for you and let her choose.

I just roast potatoes in oil and my daughter has a mountain of cauliflower cheese, yorkshires, veggie stuffing and other veg.

Ask her!
I’m veggie, but wouldn’t consider Quorn at all celebratory. I love a good nut roast, but some shop bought ones are horrible!

A lot of vegetarians don’t eat quorn at all - it causes a lot of people digestive problems! So maybe steer clear of that unless you know she eats it.