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

I make a cashew and parsnip Wellington. Make a basic nut roast mix with the above ingredients then roll it around sliced Brie and cranberry sauce then roll the whole thing in puff pastry. Much easier than it sounds can be made a couple of days in advance and reheat a slice on the day. it's fabulous hot or cold and my meat eaters love it on Boxing Day. Makes a great Xmas Eve dinner too.

For me personally the sides are the best bit of Christmas! Roast potatoes (could do a small separate batch not in goose fat? Or make an exception this year?), carrots, cauliflower cheese, parsnips...I'd be set. No additional 'main' required.

I also have the Quorn cocktail sausages instead of pigs in blankets

I have halloumi wrapped in vegi bacon, along with all the other trimmings, just roast a few potatoes in oil rather than goose fat.

Buy the whole lot from Marks. Nut roast, veggie gravy, instant will do, packet of roast potatoes, two veg.Im vegetarian and hate cooking so anything I buy for Christmas comes in a packet from Marks.

Do extra trimmings. Like a cauliflower cheese, veggie stuffing, Yorkshires.

We do a veggie centrepiece every year for MrDont and any other visiting veggies. It usually gets dug into by the carnivores too tbh. If I'm feeling stressed we'll get a Waitrose or M&S veggie option, but they do tend to sell out fast.

Last year was a big Ottolenghi pie filled with potatoes, chard and baharat spiced onions with a homemade mushroom and chestnut gravy. Lots of prep the day before, but worth it. Otherwise a Wellington of some description is easy to whip up with some bought pastry, can include butternut/sage/feta or stilton/mushrooms/lentils in the filling.

We also go big on the sides, cauli cheese, red cabbage, yorkshires, parsnips etc.

I would happily bin off the meat element these days, but the older members of the family aren't quite ready to let go!

Roast your potatoes in trex or something else that's vegan-friendly. Put aside a little of the gravy for the vegetarian so you can stir your meat juice into the rest.
Nut roast, tofu, quorn or anything else in place of the meat.
I usually host christmas for us (1 vegetarian, 1 vegan, 1 meat eater) + other friends & family (which ups the numbers of each category)
I don't find it particularly difficult but that said, I'm usually catering for between 3-8 people, so it's not overwhelming.

I'd ask her what she normally enjoys for Christmas dinner, and try my damnedest to recreate it if I could.

And I'd make everything vegetarian - all the sides, so no goose fat on the potatoes or bacon in the sprouts - and just have the roast & pigsies as meat and off limits to her. It's easier for you and makes her feel less like she's a pain in the arse.

Because your post kinda reads that you feel her joining you is a pain in the arse. If my son and his girlfriend were coming to mine for Christmas, not her family's, I'd want them both to feel like they had a wonderful, nothing's too much trouble, Christmas dinner. If that means subbing the goose fat for olive oil - will the world end? You say you don't want her food to cause an issue while you're cooking 'our' meal. The poor girl is spending Christmas Day with you. It's her meal, too.

I’ve always cook my roast potatoes in butter after watching a Jamie Oliver Xmas cooking programme and I think they taste much nicer than potatoes cooked in goose fat.

I have a veggie DH and he loves cauli cheese as his Main with his Xmas dinner veg as he dislikes nut roasts or fake meat offerings. He particularly loathes mushrooms!

My SIL is vegetarian and doesn’t like any of the “nut roast” type alternatives so just has the veg with veggie gravy and we cook some potatoes seperate for her. No biggy at all.

It really is okay to get a message/ note or similar through that you would appreciate some advice from her about what you can provide her with as a veggie option. ( my prized possession are my parents two original Cranks recipe books and I grew up shopping at a vegan shop way before anyone had even heard of vegans let alone offered anything) As an example I cannot bear and refuse to eat mock meat or any UHP foods. It’s okay if she offers to bring something that can be cooked at yours- do let her know if you have a single oven and are cooking meat esp if she is a more ethical veggie. I would far rather have a chat about the meal someone is planning and then share ideas of what I can eat, what could be done in a different way to make it veggie and offer to bring my own version of protein ready to pop in the oven or microwave.

That sounds bluddy gorgeous @HapsburgChin . Especially the braised beans.

I'm probably a picky bugger, the thought of a Quorn roast would make my heart sink. Easy option - a pepper stuffed with whatever filling you have to hand: mushrooms, packet chestnuts (obvs not the whole packet!), chopped nuts, cashews, leeks, anything. Just saute the filling ingredients, add a bit of red wine or port or brandy (only a teaspoon to flavour), seasoning, chives, then breadcrumbs or a little shop bought stuffing mix, cheese of whatever variety, stuff the pepper, job done. Roast for about three quarters of an hour depending on how crispy or cooked they like their peppers. You can wrap the filling in pastry and make a wellington too. Ordinary gravy is great, but if you wanted to go all out, a lovely thick mushroom chestnut and red wine sauce is fab and everyone can eat that.

My mum makes a cashew nut roast similar to the Hairy Bikers one for anyone coming to the house who’s vegetarian. The leeks mornay sounds good too. Linda McCartney veggie sausages used to be nice but they changed the recipe.

Goose fat doesn't get hot enough - I do mine in coconut fat 😋

Make a veggie stuffing (nuts/chestnuts/feta etc). Cook it separately from the turkey, or make it en croute for them. All other vegetables veggie.

Vegetarian or vegan? As I think that would make a big difference to Christmas dinner.

You could still do roasties in goose fat but maybe a gratin potatoes (big enough for sharing) as well. Or just do the roasties in olive oil instead (not quite as good but still very acceptable).

Brussels sprouts as normal (eg steamed or roasted) but French beans still cooked with cream and tomato but that the bacon lardons are on the side to add. Roasted roots as normal.

2 kinds of stuffing if you usually have sausage meat in yours - I like small pieces of red pepper in it if a vegetarian version instead. And the veggie version gets cooked in a separate dish anyway, not in the bird.

Some kind of nut roast, or roasted cauliflower steaks, or veggie wellington….as the “main”? Does GF eat fish as well? (Some vegetarians are actually “no meat” so will eat fish, rather than full on veggie/vegan) - that opens up lots more possibilities for the main (for her - I don’t think you would need to not have your usual joint).

I was a vegetarian for 20 years. I was always thrilled with just the sides.

Cook your potatoes in olive oil. It makes little difference. They are still delicious if you cook them properly. Don’t put bacon in your sprouts. Potatoes and veg and bread sauce and (non-sausage) stuffing balls with cranberry sauce and Bisto gravy (the normal one is vegetarian) is perfect.

If you got a vegetarian ready meal, like something from Cook, as a main, that would be a bonus, but I’d be very happy with all the trimmings.

I don't know a lot about what vegetarians eat, but if they eat butter, have you considered roasting your potatoes in butter? I always do, and they are delicious every time!!

I agree with the PP who recommended Cook! They have a most acceptable mushroom wellington that would “go” with Christmas vegetables. You can buy veggie gravy in various supermarkets.
https://www.cookfood.net/products/mushroom-wellington?srsltid=AU7gw4U_sx8MdA2MLsLUSTdXEjAeZbzmXqKabGtkARyeK0SIxMxLZvZW

If I'm told a person is vegetarian then I'm taking that at face value. None of this 'is she actually vegan' or 'does she eat salmon' nonsense. If people make up their own definitions and are disappointed with what they're offered, its on them.

Then I'll make the whole meal vegetarian except the turkey and ask her if she wants a main, veg pigs in blankets etc and if so, what type. I'm not second guessing preferences etc.

But I also understand that if someone has a plate of everything except meat, plus a starter and dessert they could well be happy with that and unlikely to be anything less than stuffed.

DD doesn't eat fake meat and is allergic to Quorn so its best to check with The vegetarian direct

I would ask if there's anything she doesn't like.

As a vegetarian, if I was being fussy, I'd say no to things like leek mornay/cauliflower cheese or butternut anything as my centrepiece because it's another veg. It needs to be something with protein.

I don't really like pastry and anything wellington is just veg or mushrooms in pastry. Same goes for pies and tarts.
Quorn makes my sibling sick, some of it does me.

Nut roast is good in theory but some of them are a bit like bird food. Something like a nut and bean roast is better. The Hairy Biker roast looks good but cashew nuts will make me throw up.

Fake roasts vary. I like the Plant Chef ones from Tesco. I'm just one vegetarian, others might not like them.

A big no-no for me is the centre-piece not matching the rest of the plate. For example, something like Christmas dinner with falafels/tagine/a big blob of curry on it.

I'd make more than one portion of the veggie dish. Others might want to try it.

Avoid cross-contamination like using the same serving tools. Check that the foods you buy are marked 'Suitable for vegetarians'

Puddings like panna cotta, mousse, cheesecake etc are often not vegetarian.
Cheese will be labelled as vegetarians if it is.

Wines and other alcoholic drinks are often not vegetarian.

(Yes I'm fussy but I'd be fine with a plate of veg especially with lots of roast potatoes)🎄

Some vegetarians are actually “no meat” so will eat fish, rather than full on veggie/vegan Then they are not vegetarians, @BiddyPopthe2nd . Fuck that shit.

None of this 'is she actually vegan' or 'does she eat salmon' nonsense. If people make up their own definitions and are disappointed with what they're offered, its on them.
Absolutely, @Bjorkdidit .

DS’s GF is veggie. She loves the M&S veggie wellington which I have some of as well. I do ger done sage and onion stuffing as we have the pork and chestnut one in the turkey. We never do roasties in goose fat - olive oil is fine. We make some veggie gravy. I have two gravy boats and put a green tag on the handle of hers so we know which is which. We fry our sprouts in bacon, but I keep some plain for her. Works fine!