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

If you did your potatoes in olive oil you could then buy a one person veggie wellington. Would that really be much of a hardship? Olive oil roast potatoes are still amazing, if you didn't tell anyone I bet they wouldn't even notice.

Ive screenshotted this . Thankyou. Sounds good !

I heard the complete opposite but am no expert

I tend to use sunflower as I'm tight, and don't care if everyone dies sooner.

Of course not everyone would hate a nut roast (and I personally don’t hate them) but they’re done to death at Christmas for veggies and tbh it gets boring. I know myself and every other veggie I know would not choose a nut roast. OP asked for suggestions so I’m giving her mine.

Best to ask the vegetarian in question anyway, as I said in my post.

I am veggie and would be very saddened to get fake meat😀. I obviously wouldn't let on though.

I agree with pp to ask your ds what she would like. As a veggie, I would always offer to bring my own but if that was declined I wouldn't expect the host to go to major trouble so some form of decent quality ready meal that didn't involve fake meat would be fine for me.

I'm guessing there are some for whom Christmas is an opportunity to have the most delicious and novel thing you can think of and some for whom dinner is comfortingly the same. That's me. Is nut roast my favourite food? No. Does it taste like Christmas? Yes. I think my parents feel the same about turkey really.

First off find out just how “vegetarian” she is as a lot of people claim they are but will eat veggies cooked in goose fat etc

Xmas dinner with roast potatoes cooked in goose fat YES it is a hardship to cook them in other crap!

Also ask your son to get his gf to clarify what she does and doesn’t like of the vegetarian stuff as a lot of people hate quorn and nut roasts. Get her to help in the kitchen with the cooking and then she can help with her food and make it easier for you both

To avoid work for yourself and to make her feel included (it's her Christmas too!), make everything but the turkey vegetarian (or other meat sides you have like pigs in blankets). Cook all veggies / potatoes in a separate tray and make veggie gravy. And buy something off the shelf for the main - I love Asda's mushroom wellington or the roast from M&S is great (most supermarkets do veggie pigs in blankets too). If you do a starter, do that veggie as well if you can - it's a bit boring but we always do soup because it's a tradition in our house!

ah, gotta love resident Gammon

Imagine the horror of not eating dead dog! Christmas would be ruined.

Do bother with vegetarian gravy. Thanksgiving dinners tend to include more dishes that have their own sauce, so it might be fine for that but for xmas dinner gravy is a must. Especially with the decline in bread sauce these days.

Risotto would be weird. It's not a protein, it's an extra carb. Not needed.

For the love of god don’t do a nut roast. Vegetarians are bored to tears of nut roasts at Christmas
I'm not.
I am bored with mushroom wellington, butternut squash, risotto, and caramelised onion and goat's cheese tart.
It's always one of those.

*it's only on MN that you hear so much about 'can't possibly tolerate Quorn'.
Maybe, but it makes my sister ill. I am ok with some of it but not all Quorn products.

@Isanyonereallyanonymous , My SIL is veggie, as are a few other relatives, and they favour salmon If they eat fish they are not vegetarian.

@Nearly50omg , First off find out just how “vegetarian” she is as a lot of people claim they are but will eat veggies cooked in goose fat etc
Then they aren't vegetarians. Goose fat is from dead geese.

I do a vegan and meat dinner every year.

vegan starter like a nice soup.
I use plant milk for bread sauce and cauliflower cheese.

Veggies are veggies.

potatoes roast in oil.

Make a vegan wellington, which is lovely in addition to a roast, plant based pigs in blankets as well as meat ones .

It’s a bit more faff but not too much.
good luck.

Maybe you should try some vegetarian options yourself and think about the animal welfare issues associated with the meat industry.

people don’t like to hear it but the meat industry is very fucking cruel.

Yes animals are sentient beings with emotions and the conditions Turkeys etc are kept in are appalling.

It shouldn’t be such a big issue to cook a veggie option these days and should be something everyone is used doing to support the environment and animal welfare.

There really is no excuse!

I've been recommending this dish since 2011(!) on here - Parsnip, cranberry & chestnut loaf.

I usually make it on the 23rd or 24th and stick it in the fridge, ready to just be popped into the same oven as the roast potatoes. Minimum faff on the day.

I've 'cheated' in recent years and just used jarred cranberry sauce rather than making my own from scratch; it honestly tastes the same and cuts down the preparation considerably.

It's an easy vegetarian alternative, served with all the usual Christmas side-dishes. Quite often the non-veggies around the table have taken a slice alongside their turkey too. I'm also quite partial to a slice on boxing day with extra cranberry sauce and any leftover roast potatoes.

As for "our potatoes are cooked in goose fat" - butter. I love my potatoes done in butter.

They are the correct definition. Whether you agree or not.

While olive oil does have a lower smoke point than some other oils, I use light olive oil rather than extra virgin olive and our roast potatoes are delicious.

Reminds me of a smoker friend who was hosting a dinner party. He sent all the non-smokers outside while we all smoked in comfort. Those were the days...

Sorry for the derail.

Mate, if you think nut roasts are 'done to death' at Christmas, you should try turkey!

I’d do veggie roast potatoes for all of you, and veggie gravy. She can have all the veg. Then I’d make her a veggie tart - roasted tomato, pepper and feta is nice. Cooks in 30 mins in the oven.

Well, they are 🤷‍♀️ I’ve been a vegetarian for over 30 years, it is the (usually only) vegetarian option at most Christmas dos, and the go to option for most meat eaters who host Christmas dinner. And it’s often dry, tasteless and boring.

I do find it bizarre that lots of meat eaters also insist on turkey every Christmas, one of the most dry and tasteless meats from what I remember, but up to them.

Then I’d make her a veggie tart - roasted tomato, pepper and feta is nice.
Not with a roast dinner.

Thanks!... I liked the sound of that so much for our veg family, that I had to look up the receipe... https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/vegetarian-recipes/cheese-and-parsnip-roulade-with-sage-and-onion-stuffing

Get some Bisto best onion gravy then some kind of veggie pie (though might be too big if lots of sides), a tart or nut roast. I would ask what she likes. Not necessarily the specifics but whether she likes fake meat or not. Roasties in olive oil is definitely the way to go.