If it's so easy to cater for vegetarians what are some great dinner party level dishes?

[timeisnotaline]

I have one - a pumpkin Gorgonzola pie. Back ups are risotto which is slow and needs attention before serving so not perfect. I love veggies (unless I'm in first trimester like now when it makes me ill to think about them) but none of my other veggie meals are what I would call dinner party standard.

This filo pie always goes down well with a Greek salad with avocado and cous cous:

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4540/crispy-greekstyle-pie-%3Famp

Vegetarian haggis with whiskey sauce and turnip and potatoes, you can easily make it look fancy by using an empty can to shape but it tastes amazing.
Pumpkin and sage ravioli (or any homemade ravioli filled with different veggie fillings)
I know nut roasts get a bad rap but I make nut wellington for Christmas every year and now even some of the big meat eaters in the family will choose that over the turkey.
I also make a one-pan linguine similar to this one which is easy and always goes down well at dinner parties- www.olivemagazine.com/recipes/vegetarian/one-pot-tomato-and-basil-pasta/

I used to do a veggie Indian meal

• daal
• spinach and potato curry
• carrot, cashew nut and ginger curry

perhaps one more + homemade veggie samosas, rice, naan and popadums

Or I used to make a pinenut loaf with lemon, herb stuffing - i used to do it for veggies at Christmas with roast veg and green veg and veggie gravy or a wine sauce
I cannot find my actual recipe but it is very similar to this
www.olum.org/yduj/recipe/pine-nut-loaf.txt

I did this last Christmas for a veggie ....I also slipped in some cheese, halloumi I think

It was well received! And delicious cold too, I had some next day with a side of cold ham and turkey

There’s a link on Nigella’s Instagram to a goats’ cheese and pumpkin lasagne which looks nice.

The mushroom wellington I made one Christmas (got the recipe from a book written by Hugh F-W's mum) had chestnut mushrooms and chestnuts in it. It was lovely and looked really good too.

Avoid lasagne, risotto and goat's cheese/onion tart, as these are always the veggie option in pubs and restaurants. It gets very boring.

For the record, most pesto (because made with parmesan) and all gorgonzola is not vegetarian.

I am saving recipes as I read. Great thread.

Stuffed peppers
Stuffed aubergine
Huge chunks of Cretan cookery are vegetarian
also Middle Eastern
let alone some of the amazing Indian dishes

or serve each person a miniature shakshouka

Enjoying this thread! Not veggie but increasingly we are eating a lot of veggie meals.

This time of year I like to make individual baked squashes. Cut off a lid, scoop out innards, bake until getting soft. Then chuck in crumbled feta, minced garlic, drizzle of olive oil and some pine nuts and bake until nice and soft and the cheese is gooey.

Cranks mushroom wellington (more a nut roast en croute, really) with red wine and tomato sauce.

Anything really - except goat's cheese.

Some people hate mushrooms with passion, though.

I love this butternut squash and goat's cheese tarte tatin. Easy, delicious, looks impressive: www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/25/autumn-main-course-recipes-yotam-ottolenghi-squash-chicken-fish-prawns-duck-beef-pasta

I would do stuffed red and yellow peppers stuffed with pre-cooked: onion, rice, chopped dried apricots and pine nuts topped with parmesan.

As a veggie, I’d really appreciate and enjoy something a bit different that I know the host has gone to a bit of trouble thinking about. Something that I wouldn’t bother doing for a normal tea at home, so NOT lasagne, risotto etc. But it doesn’t have to be homemade, as long as thought has gone into it. Last Xmas I had a butternut squash and feta filo thing from Tesco, not homemade, but delicious!

I did the BBC Moroccan spiced pie for a dinner party a couple of weeks ago. We are meat eaters as were one of the other couples but we decided to go all veggie for ease. The pie went down well with everyone and looked impressive too. We also had Delia's halloumi with coriander and caper dressing as a starter - which was very tasty.

There's a brilliant Prue Leith book which is all about seasonal cooking for dinner parties - not a vegetarian book per se but has some lovely recipes in. One that stood out was a ratatouille bake that was topped with a spicy couscous crust.

Not a veggie dish but it also had a crab and samphire risotto that was baked in the oven - you could probably adapt that to replace the crab with some asparagus.

Have a look at the Food for Friends menu and then Google for recipes/devise your own versions of the dishes? Gives some good ideas, anyway - I fancy the ginger beer battered Halloumi :)

I think the first thing is to ask if the vegetarian person has vegetables/cheese they don't like.

Asparagus with butter, shaved Parmesan and pine nuts

Filo with goats cheese, served with baked beetroot and roasted vine tomatoes.

These are my best friends favourites.

The other approach if you have people with varied eating habits at the table is to do mezze / tapas / pixtos platter type food
as then you can serve all sorts of funky dishes and people get to eat what they like, try something new and avoid what they do not like

I once served a dinner for 8 people of varying habits and it was only over coffee that one person cottoned on that the whole meal had been vegan

Mushroom risotto served with either truffle oil or a poached egg

Spanakopita with a nice selection of peppers, artichoke hearts etc.

Big Indian banquet with lots of chutneys and pickles, bhaji, dhal, a couple of good 'solid' curries, pilau rice and some naan.

Puff pastry tarts made with any combination of red onion, peppers, goats cheese, feta, apple, sundried tomatoes, those little piquante peppers.

Vegetarian chilli (lentil or Quorn mince) topped with cornbread and served with guacamole, sour cream and a nice fresh salsa.

I make this every Christmas www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetables-recipes/mushroom-and-squash-vegetarian-wellington/?

It is gorgeous, and definitely restaurant standard IMO. My DD is vegan now, so really easy to adapt for her.

I'm not a veggie but love a feta and spinach pie, or an aubergine parmigiana.

parmesan is not vegetarian either (see also grana padano and pecorino) so i don't know why people keep suggesting it.