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

Just ask her, no point buying Quorn if she doesn't like it. I personally wouldn't want to be of bother and would happily eat veggies and Yorkshire puddings etc, I have hardly any meat on my roast dinners anyway.

That might be your definition but it isn’t everyone’s.

I’m vegetarian and would never eat a ‘nut roast’.. yuk! I would start by asking your son what she likes and just pick the easiest. I’m impressed you’re even thinking about it in October!

I would ask her. Personally I love the Quorn roast because I like fake meat and I really just want a regular Christmas meal without the meat and that’s the closest I can get.

other veggies hate fake meat tho so I reckon you should ask! Nut roast can be good but it can also be like eating stuffing - which is nice but not quite the right texture.

Invite your son and his girlfriend around and ask her directly what she normally eats for Christmas dinner. Some vegetarians love all the usual vegetables but have the bisto vegetarian gravy and a Quorn roast. Others don’t like the meat alternatives and would prefer steamed veg and a lentil bake.

Some vegetarians are also very cautious about their meal being cooked in the same oven as meat, so they might be more comfortable bringing along their own thing that can be heated by itself in the microwave or air fryer and served with your steamed veg. Or you can talk about how comfortable they are with meat covered in foil in the oven.

It depends how meat-heavy you are as to how much of a change you need to make. If any meat dishes in the oven can be covered in foil and put on lower shelves, the potatoes and roasting veg cooked in sunflower oil on higher shelves might be okay for some vegetarians but not for others. The veg needs to be served plain, no butter and lardons and stuffing should obviously not contain sausage meat and it should be cooked away from the meat. Even if you have meat juice gravy for everyone else; a tub of instant vegetarian gravy granules is easy enough to buy and is quick, like instant coffee, to make up.

Do talk to her directly though. It would be horrible all round if you did things special for her that she didn’t want to eat for whatever reason.

Watch out for animal gelatine in desserts and suet in puddings too. Both are unsuitable for vegetarians.

They're pretty standard ones.
Go Vegan | What is Veganism? | Understanding Veganism
Eating veggie - Vegetarian Society

The people who make up their own definitions make life difficult for those of us who actively avoid eating dead animals.

I was a vegetarian for 23 years and still have weeks when I can't eat meat.

A few weeks ago I cooked two huge portabelo mushrooms with Welsh perl las cheese from Marks and Spencer.
Pour over cream with chopped garlic and sprinkle with panko bread crumbs.15 minutes in the air fryer. Fabulous.

( I'm not a fan of nut roast and I'm allergic to soya).

Vegetarian foods have a green V on the packet.
Marks and Spencer and waitrose triffles don't use gelatine in their luxury products I believe.

There is an old Nigel Slater recipe for goats cheese in pastry with thyme which works really well as a special-feeling main dish, would go with the side dishes and you can just prep in advance and stick it in the oven.

Re gravy: Most of the time bisto granules in the red tub are vegetarian (not always, weirdly, so check back of pack). We use it all the time on roast spuds and veggie toad-in-the-hole.

Exactly this.

We typically make this for roasts in our veggie household - for Christmas I might add a few cranberries, chestnuts and sage, and if I was feeling a bit fancy, maybe wrap it in some jus rol and use it as a filling for a veggie wellington.

https://wallflowerkitchen.com/lentil-roast-with-gravy/

Its very easy to make, you basically just chuck stuff in a food processor and then in a loaf tin. I often substitute the mushrooms for whatever ones we have in. We've never bothered with the balsamic gravy (although I imagine it's lovely) - the good old red tub of Bisto is vegan, and it's quick and easy, so we use that most of the time.

Happy cooking 😊

I’m vegetarian, none of my family is. I make a nut roast for myself ahead of time and freeze it, then just reheat on the day. All the other veg go well with this, so there’s very little you need to change. Do an extra few potatoes without goose fat, and make or buy some vegan gravy (Lidls is fine).

I wouldn’t serve Quorn. Most vegetarians don’t like it, but are too polite to say so.

Tesco do lots of nice special things
you can pop in the oven or air fryer.

this once skip the goose fat

Butter is fine. (Unless she had a dairy allergy of course, but that's entirely separate from the vegetarianism and would have been mentioned.)

Vegetable or sunflower oil is better than olive oil for roast potatoes. Apparently it has a higher smoking point or something

Some things I usually do as a starter is filo parcels, mine usually have brie and mango chutney in, really easy, prep the day before and bake for 30 mina or so.

I have eaten ones filled with cream cheese and spinach.

You could fo 2 or 3 different ones, mushrooms and cream cheese, cheese and cranberry sauce, just make sure the cheese is vegi and, not sure of the proper word, meltability.

There's only one way to deal with vegetarians at Christmas, OP. Make them stand outside and watch through the window as normal people eat their Christmas lunch.

🤣🤣🤣

But being serious, Marks does a splendid range of vegetarian meals. If you're feeling ambitious, you could also look into making a nut roast. They're pretty nice.

Ask her or maybe give her a few options so she doesn't request something that won't work with your kitchen. My nephew's veggie and he has all sorts on a Sunday dinner which don't involve much extra fuss. I've done him some beetroot fallafel the other week which were just warmed up in a little pot, he's had a fake chicken kiev, sometimes my mum will do him some veggie sausages or glamorgan sausages.

I get what you're saying about the goosefat potatoes or non-veggie stuffing. I'd suggest doing a side of mash (with butter) that you can prep and fridge in advance then warm up on the day. Or set aside a portion of the potatoes and roast them in a little foil tin in the same tray as the other potatoes - doesn't take up any extra space and they're in a different oil to the goosefat. Obvs, depends how strict she is. If she wants things totally separate get a fancy potato side from M&S that can go in the microwave.

Around 1 in 4 people can’t tolerate Quorn, so, unless I knew she was ok with it, I’d avoid it.

If you really want to make something nice, simple, and a tasty accompaniment for those having turkey too aswell as your veggie guest, then I’d make Sarah Brown’s Cashew and Mushroom Roast, which is a really tasty and moist nut roast with parsnips, cashews, etc, and filled with a layer of mushrooms. It goes perfectly with roast potatoes, cranberry sauce, bread sauce, etc.

Don’t forget some veggie gravy too.

For the love of god don’t do a nut roast. Vegetarians are bored to tears of nut roasts at Christmas
I agree ask her - personally I’d enjoy some kind of pie with all the usual veg, just don’t cook them in goose fat. They taste absolutely fine roasted in olive oil.

Ive never really understood the stress of catering for veggies at Christmas - in theory Christmas dinner is a largely vegetarian meal. We just don’t eat the turkey or pigs in blankets.

I'll be the umpteenth person on here to point out that they aren't vegetarians. Salmon isn't a vegetable 😂

My sil is vegetarian so I do this every Thanksgiving.

I cook the potatoes in ghee. If you can't bear losing the goosefat you could do a few in a smaller pan in ghee or oil.

I put aside some stuffing before I add bacon. I make sure there are at least 2 veg without any meat or meat stock - carrots/parsnips, peas, mashed turnip etc.

I usually make one vegetarian main dish - mushroom risotto in the oven or stuffed squash or similar. Usually everyone has some so I make lots. Don't bother with vegetarian gravy.

Not everyone hates nut roast. Many will prefer it to a pie, which will feel very stodgy when paired with roast potatoes, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding, cauliflower cheese etc. Some people will actively like and be fine with Quorn, it's only on MN that you hear so much about 'can't possibly tolerate Quorn'. Many people also hate squash, mushroom or lentil based dishes, others love them.

It's almost like vegetarians are normal people with varying tastes, preferences and dietary requirements so can't all be lumped together in 'as long as there's no meat, it's fine'.