I have a vegetarian coming for Christmas dinner - ideas please

[larus]

I normally do a traditional Christmas dinner - roast turkey or goose with all the trimmings - and will be doing so again this year, for about 10 people. One of whom is a veggie.

Does anyone have some ideas that could help? Ideally am after recipes that can be prepared/cooked in advance and then reheated. Given the amount of food to fit in the oven, if it can be done in a loaf tin that would really help! And I definitely want something that 'goes with' the rest of the lunch - apart from turkey and sausages, everything else will be vegetarian as I want them to feel they are included in the meal (if that makes sense).

Nut wellington! Most of my family are veggie & that's what we always serve, alongside the turkey for those who eat it. Can be made in advance & is made in a loaf tin :)

I'll see if I can find you a recipe.

This is the closest I can find to the one that we do, on a quick look. They've made it more like a savoury strudel thing, by the look of it - ours is definitely in a loaf tin. You can also do a nut roast, which is the same thing without the pastry - even easier to put in the loaf tin, too.

It keeps quite well & can be reheated or even eaten cold for a few days afterwards, so you can wrap it up in foil & send it away with the veggie, if you don't want it hanging around (although the meat-eaters usually have a bit with their meals too, because it's not like rabbit food!) :)

I have a pescatarian coming - he usually has the trimmings but a piece of salmon in place of the turkey, and I do a hollandaise sauce or something for him.

Are there any nice ready meal nut loaf type things - do M&S do something? That might make your life easier. Or is that too lazy an idea?

We are all veggie or vegan and I always go for a meat substitute because anything else feels untraditional. Some veggies don't like meat substitutes - usually only the ones that don't eat meat because they don't like it- so you should check first.

This 'beef' roast is lovely (we'll be having this with all the trimmings this year) and you can get it at any Holland and Barret store www.veggiestuff.com/acatalog/redwood_vegan_beef_roast_horseradish_wild_rice.html

Just make sure you do a veggie gravy too- if you're not sure about making your own lots of granuals are veggie.

They also do a Turkey with Cranberry but it's not as tasty IMO.

nut roast with brie and pesto on top

If it's only one vegetarian, I think a big stuffed mushroom would be good and could be done in your tiniest oven proof dish! Or a big Yorkshire pudding, like a toad in the hole - but with some pre-cooked button mushrooms and shallots inside it, instead of the sausages.

Depending on how fussy the guest is or how elaborate the rest of the meal is, could you get away with Quorn? They do a lovely family roast which I always have.

Check if they like nut roast - I think it's horrible.

Second the idea of a stuffed mushroom or pepper. Won't take up much room and is delish.

bleh I say no to the mushroom idea. Do you know how often you get given mushroom if you're veggie.... I loathe mushrooms, won't touch them! Both the xmas meals I was invited too have vegie ooption involving mushroom. I'm not going to one because of that and the other I have said no thanks to the main course.

And no to the meat substitues either, If i wanted it to taste of meat I'd eat the meat fgs.

A lovely nut roast is the way to go. All the same trimmings (make sure roast potatoes are in veg oil not goose fat and gravy is veggie).

I usually do about 3 different ones, and ye that includes an m&s one which they do for xmas and I keep a stash of in freezer as they only do it at christmas. Brazil nut and cranberrries I think it is. Tesco's have a nice one too with with butternut squash and brie on it. And all reheat fine
Or you can make your own from any number of receipes you can find.

And yes, they all go in a loaf pan and don't take very long to cook at all.
Only tip I would give is to make sure you have extra as lots of people will want to try teh 'extra stuffing' as they seem to think it is.

I'm veggie and am completely happy with 'just' the trimmings - I don't need a meat substitute and would hate you to stress about it.

However, if you really want to do something then all of the above sound nice :) Thanks for Gilly I'll be looking at the Tesco one with Butternut squash (but not for Christmas Day).

I used to be veggie and my long-suffering mother made some lovely and some not so lovely dinners for me.

My fave was a chestnut, leek and mushroom pie. It had sherry in and was the most amazing thing ever. Maybe tarragon too. It was sooo good, wish she hadn't lost the recipe :(

If you go down the M and S route, I was in there today and they had an amazing-looking nut roast topped with mulled wine berries. It's in the £10 deal. Which incidentally they wouldn't sell to me as their tills apparently won't put through booze after 5pm on a Sunday so I threw a strop and put everything back, otherwise I could've provided a review.

Yeah that's their usual xmas one iTigress. It's good. I keep a stash in the freezer as they only do it at this time of the year. If you want the bigger version you have to order it from the xmas food ordering catalogue thing.

We had that berry topped nut roast type thing from M and S last year for DH, he liked it. I will be doing a normal Christmas dinner but making sure the roast pots are vegetarian - ie just doing them in oil rather than something tasty like dripping. DH will be getting some sort of bought in nut roast type thing.

I hate berries on savoury things - shudder!

Tbh, I'm like ChippingIn in that I'm quite happy with the 'everything else' minus the meat.

Last year we had;

dauphinoisse potatoes
stuffing
a huge pan of mixed roasted veggies - sweet potatoes, new potatoes, parsnips, carrots, leeks, baby onions, red onions
sprouts with chestnuts
savoy cabbage
green beans
another vege which I have forgotten

yorkies
mint sauce
cranberry sauce and chicken for dp (the only carnivore and the only one who thinks cranberry sauce is edible).

It was lovely!

iTigress - that sounds lovely! I hope one day you find the recipe and post it here!!

I feel a trip to M&S coming on tomorrow :)

Don't roast any veg in goose fat if your guest is veggie. It sounds obvious, but in the rush of cooking it can be easily overlooked. Olive oil is great, lovely crunchy potatoes.

Second the idea on a nice pie. You could just get a readymade one, I think there is a range of posh ones out at Sainsburys but am sure M&S would do one too.

I would be a bit gutted if offered a stuffed mushroom, ditto a stuffed pepper!, but other people maybe wouldn't be. A pie feels like a proper alternative I think.

I love nut roast but so many people hate it that it might be best to avoid!

You sound like a lovely, thoughtful person so am sure whatever you do they will appreciate it. Enjoy!

Thanks for all the info guys - must remember to roast potatoes in oil and not fat. I love goose fat potatoes though, so will see if I have room for 2 lots (not holding out hope there though as our oven is a single).

Think I might go with the nut wellington, but will definitely be down to Marks for some of the others - they sound yummy!

theunmentioned there is a nice recipe for a Brie and spinach and roasted mushroom Wellington that you might like somewhere, but you did know Brie isn't technically veggie yes?

a vegetarian uncle who often came to us for christmas always used to bring a nuke-able main course for himself, which meant that my mum never had to worry about him . I don't think you can ask anyone to bring their own meal - my uncle started this tradition. But maybe you could ask if there is anything of this sort that your guest would like?

This meant that the only thing that my mum had to think about was the vegetarian status of mince pies and christmas pudding.

I have one veggie coming too on Xmas Day and have been considering what to do for her, in fact posted on here a few weeks ago and got some great ideas. My veggie is a lovely lady and is non fussy and indeed would hate any fuss made/attention drawn to her.

For this reason, and the fact I'm lazy, I am quite anti doing a whole tart or nut roast or similar as it is for one person. I think if thats the way you want to go, you should go to M and S, there's so much else to do!

I think I will prob do half a stuffed butternut with some festive stuff in like chestnuts etc and she can also have all the accompaniments too.

Charlotte - you can get veggie and non veggie brie as you can with most cheeses. We are very very lucky in the UK in that 90% of our cheese is vegetarian

PUDDING yes as Jeee said, you do need to check the pudding! There are plenty of vegetarian ones if you are buying one.

Taffeta - I'll PM you my address and you can send the other half to me - sounds lovely...

Don't bother. Just make a load of veg and they won't miss the meat aspect. That is what I used to do when Dstepson was vegetarian and he was happy with this (he hates nut loaf and mushrooms).

He is bloody vegan now so have to make different versions of all vegetables as I put aboit half a pound of butter in all mine.

and use bisto granules for the gravy - use the veg water to make it.

(i'm a meat-hater veggie, but the nut wellington sounds lovely)