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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to ask what I should make a vegetarian coming for dinner?

90 replies

mammyoftwo · 03/04/2017 18:02

posts from vegetarians especially welcome; what do you always get served? what should i avoid? any recommendations what I should make?

tia mn

OP posts:
jmh740 · 03/04/2017 19:20

Please don't use beanfeast ( gives me stomach ache!) Depends what kind of meal if I was going to a friends for a light meal I'd like jacket pots with cheese then you can do a few different fillings, chilli, lasagne something like that please no goats cheese it's all we seem to be offered

ethelfleda · 03/04/2017 19:21

Go on to BBC good food website and search mushroom fajitas and thank me later Smile
Just had them for dinner actually - bloody tasty!

Applebite · 03/04/2017 19:23

jmh - you just reminded me that when I was a student, I cooked bean feast for my flat mate once and the next morning she had to call in sick because her farts were so toxic. She farted herself clean out of her bedroom and then out of the lounge and ended up in the garden for most of the day. I felt quite bad. But also I laughed a lot!!

MargaretCavendish · 03/04/2017 19:26

many vegetarians don't eat normal cheese because it is often made with animal rennet, so unless you know if the guest does eat cheese ,or you can use vegetarian cheese I would avoid recipes with cheese.

This really depends on the kind of cheese you're talking about. You need to be careful with artisan cheese, and generally almost anything which is a geographical appellation (most famously parmesan) is going to be made with animal rennet. Vegetarian cheese is very easy to find, though - it's not some specialist product. I do always double check in the supermarket, and I can't remember the last time I saw a British cheese that wasn't marked vegetarian, and feta and halloumi are also pretty reliable.

anon050 · 03/04/2017 19:29

Omg I love beanfeast! All DH's fault. I used to make Quorn spaghetti, those days are over. It's beanfeast spaghetti lol. I'm actually quite addicted.

Easy lasagna recipe.
Layer pasta sheets with Asda vegetarian meatballs
Jar of passetta with mixed Italian herbs mix added to sauce
Grated cheese.

Serve with salad or a potato side and garlic bread.

mammyoftwo · 03/04/2017 19:29

would pesto be ok? (some cheese but not main ingrediant or does it contain animal rennet?)

OP posts:
Welshmaenad · 03/04/2017 19:32

My boyfriend is veggie, he happily eats Quorn and makes a lovely Thai green Quorn curry and Quorn mince chilli. He also loves risotto Grin

Things I have made he especially likes:

Paneer shashlick (roasted peppers and onions and cubed paneer) with a curry sauce on the side
Butternut squash dhal
Melanzane parmigiana (using vegetarian hard cheese)
Veggie tagine - I shall share the recipe because it is bloody gorgeous!

2 red peppers, chopped
1 leek finely sliced (I used baby leeks)
1 courgette chopped (again I used baby courgettes trimmed and halved)
1/2 punnet mushrooms, quartered (I used portobellini but chestnut would work well too)
1 bag pre chopped sweet potato and butternut squash
12-15 dried pitted dates, halved.
1 medium onion finely diced, or large handful soffrito mix
1 tin chickpeas drained
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 carton passata
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1tsp rose harissa paste
2 tsp chermoula paste
2 tsp ras el hanout spice mix
Pinch each salt and pepper
Olive oil

Brown the peppers, courgettes and mushrooms in oil in a pan in batches and set aside.

Add the onion or soffrito mix and cook for a few minutes until it startes to brown. Add the leeks and butternut/sweet potato. Throw in the garlic, pastes, salt and pepper and spice mix and mix thoroughly. Add back in the browned veggies and cook for a few minutes. Add the tomatoes and passata and the halved dates and mix till combined.

Transfer into a slow cooker and cook for 8 hours low/4 hours high or into a traditional tagine and cook in the oven for an hour to an hour fifteen minutes on 180 degrees/160 fan.

ElinorRigby · 03/04/2017 19:33

I think vegetarians are as various in what they do and don't like eating as carnivores.

I'd go for something not too complicated - perhaps from one of the BBC food websites - as they're reliable, which you think everyone will enjoy.

(I'm assuming that you're making the same food for everyone. If you are cooking separately for the vegetarian, that is all the more reason for keeping things relatively simple.)

Cocklodger · 03/04/2017 19:33

Home made pesto with a different cheese or with rennet free Parmesan is a good one. :)

Welshmaenad · 03/04/2017 19:33

mammy pick a dairy free pesto as if it contains actual Parmesan it will use animal rennet (to be called Parmesan it has to, by law)

PovertyPain · 03/04/2017 19:33

Lol. I have visions of you placing a jar of pesto and spoon in front of them, op. Sorry no help. 😆

LiviaDrusillaAugusta · 03/04/2017 19:39

Just ask them what they want? Some people don't like spicy food but do like mushroom risotto!

AssassinatedBeauty · 03/04/2017 19:44

Shop bought pesto will say if it's suitable for vegetarians, if it doesn't say so then it won't be iyswim.

MargaretCavendish · 03/04/2017 19:46

I agree to ask them in advance, but offer options - 'would you like x, y or z? Or something else?'. I always feel quite awkward anyway about people cooking separate dishes for me, and if I was asked 'what I wanted' I'd either end up just saying 'anything!' or picking the single easiest and cheapest dish I could think of. Whereas if someone said 'I was thinking of doing either mushroom fajitas or goat's cheese tart' I would say (truthfully) that they both sound great but the tart sounds particularly good.

SteelyPip · 03/04/2017 19:48

I'd have a nosey here on Hello Fresh. I get their Veggie Box and it's always got some tasty dishes, which look a bit cheffy and like you've really made an effort, but are actually really easy to make. www.hellofresh.co.uk/recipe/all/2017/veggie-box/

You can scroll all through their archive and the recipes are written out in immense detail.

Enjoy!

TheSpottedZebra · 03/04/2017 19:48

You can get pesto with cheese that is vegetarian - you just have to read the small print.
Eg Waitrose's chiller pesto is ok.

StillDrivingMeBonkers · 03/04/2017 19:49

Thinking out loud

Odd how you never see any thread from vegetarians wondering what to give a carnivore for dinner.

And yes I am playing devils advocate.

MumW · 03/04/2017 19:51

I have 2 Cranks cookbooks which have always been my go to for entertaining vegetarians. Never used their website but here is a link
www.cranks.co.uk/gb/recipes

They are very wholefood as well as vegetarian and I substitute white flour or a mix of brown/white and prefer normal pasta/rice. I also use gluten free ingredients as I'm wheat intolerant but that's a whole other issue.

MargaretCavendish · 03/04/2017 19:52

Thinking out loud. Odd how you never see any thread from vegetarians wondering what to give a carnivore for dinner. And yes I am playing devils advocate.

Can I recommend that you continue to work on thinking in your head?

MumW · 03/04/2017 19:54

Odd how you never see any thread from vegetarians wondering what to give a carnivore for dinner.

Me too, Bonkers, or at least I did until I went wheat free. Grin

MumW · 03/04/2017 19:56

Also being light-hearted, before anyone slates me!

Lapinlapin · 03/04/2017 19:56

There aren't that shop bought pestos that are suitable for veggies.

Sacla organic pesto is veggie though, so either that or make your own.( It's the parmesan in pesto which isn't veggie.)

PurpleDaisies · 03/04/2017 19:58

Odd how you never see any thread from vegetarians wondering what to give a carnivore for dinner.

It's about catering for a diet you don't usually cook for. I absolutely would not expect a vegetarian to cook meat and presumably they already have suitable meals that everyone can eat.

AssassinatedBeauty · 03/04/2017 19:58

The thing is bonkers that all vegetarian food is part of a meat eater's possible diet. So all vegetarian food is potentially suitable for those that also eat meat.

If I'm hosting guests, who are meat eaters, I will ask them if what I'm going to cook (vegetarian) is ok. If they have any preferences or allergies I'd of course take those into account.

StillDrivingMeBonkers · 03/04/2017 19:59

Can I recommend that you continue to work on thinking in your head?

When you've received your armchair diploma in fuckwittery, please feel free to dispense advice, until then I'd save it for someone who wants it Grin