Vegetarian Christmas dinner ideas?

[Mam23]

flavorlessne like to share their recommendations for a vegetarian 'main'? We are feeding 6 veggies and 2 meat eaters. I'm doing turkey and ham for the carnivores. I'd like to keep things fairly traditional in terms of the style of meal so plan the usual roast potatoes, sprouts, parsnips, cranberry sauce, gravy etc but I need inspiration for a veggie centre piece.

The past few years we have had quorn roast as have been at parents or ILs and it's the easiest thing for them to fit in with their own meal plans, but to be honest it isn't particularly nice, often turns out dry and flavourless and no one particularly likes it, so I'd like to try something more interesting.

Mushroom wellington, or anything in puff pastry. We have a redwoods (now v bites) turkey roast with all the trimmings. Or a chestnutty loaf. Good food usually has a veggie edition at xmas with good ideas.

We did mushroom wellington one year but it was horrid. Did nut roast last year which also wasn't too great. Heard a lot of good things about the Redwoods roasts though, they've started selling them in Holland&Barrett so I will be buying one to test soon. There's also a Quorn roast but that's only vegetarian and not vegan, just incase there are any vegans.

We've done mushroom or mushroom and nut wellington a few times and it's been delicious - probably depends on the recipe though, there are a few floating around the internet - the BBC one looks nice. Basically anything wrapped in puff pastry works quite well.

Delia's parsnip roulade is another one of our regulars, and I also like some nut roasts, though they can be a bit heavy.

The main thing I'd say is to make sure that all the side dishes are veggie-friendly (eg roast potatoes and parsnips done in olive oil, not goose fat or whatever), and make sure that there is some kind of good vegetarian sauce or gravy, particularly if you go for nut roast. I do a sun-dried tomato gravy (sauteed onion, sundried tomatoes in oil, veg stock, simmered for a while then blended) which goes well with most vegetarian mains.

Homemade Mushroom Wellington (The Kranks) but make 2 because the meat eaters will turn their nose up at the idea of something vegetarian gracing the table but then decide it actually looks quite nice and will then eat the lot

This one

The Cranks, not the Kranks... entirely different people

Rose Elliot does a fab onions stuffed with chesnuts and stuff. absolutely yummy and has a lovely gravy too.
www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/883474/chestnut-stuffed-onions-with-porcini yum]]
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Cranberry and pistachio Wellington - I spied it on Pinterest last week when I realised I'd have to give some serious thought to Christmas lunch this year, being newly veggie!

I used to make a Good Housekeeping recipe for a nut loaf (DH and I are vegetarian. My mum had alot of food intolerances but if I was careful with the choice of cheese , she was fine)
I'll try and find it but from memory:

onion + garlic fried.
Add chopped vacuum packed chestnuts, artichoke hearts, an egg, white breadcrumbs and white nuts (almonds, macadamias, brazils, pine nuts) Grated cheese (I think I used feta) lemon thyme

Roll into a cylinder, wrap in silicone paper and foil, then freeze.
Cook from frozen, open the top at the end to brown.

or

Delias - savoury choux pastry with cheese, Then once it;s cooked, fill with cooked mushrooms

Delias roulade is nice ( Swiss roll type with a nut and breadcrumb onion base, cheese souffle middle then pureed veg - carrot, turnip, parsnip.)

The Quorn Roast is nicer now since they've "New and Improved" it. It's moister and saltier. You need to make sure it's not overcooked though,

www.allaboutyou.com/food/recipefinder/white-nut-roast-recipe-8740

On phone so can't easily do links but this nut roast is lovely. Can be done 2 weeks before and frozen. We cook it from frozen and fiddle around with the cooking times. I make double the amounts and cook two.

Made this nut roast recently www.redonline.co.uk/food/recipes/nut-spinach-roast-with-wild-mushroom-gravy
and it was delicious. My husband ate most of it, and he's a committed carnivore. It worked really well as a veggie main and a side dish for meat-eaters. Will definitely be doing it again at Christmas.

The M&S nut roast is quite nice. My carnivore DH and in-laws all scoffed it although they had plenty of their own food

Quorn - do they like other quorn products?

I also find the roast a bit dry and tasteless, if I follow the instructions, but I like the texture.

Instead I defrost it, and unwrap it from that silly wrapping. I put into into Bacofoil. If doing a whole roast (I usually cut it into three for two of us) add three teaspoons of butter, three tablespoons of water, two teaspoons of mixed herbs, a couple of crushed garlic and a teaspoon of blackpepper. Wrap it up, and then cook for around 30 -40 mins until piping hot. Drain, slice and serve. This way it is very moist and has some flavour.

Personally I'm not a fan of nut roast, but I love a good wellington.

To be honest, though I'm quite happy with just the trimmings. Bisto beef gravy is suitable for vegetarians (it's better than veggie gravy imo) - so with that I'm like a pig in muck!

I'd avoid the quorn thing if at all possible. Much nicer to have something home-made and a bit special for Christmas.

I do a persian style veg layered saffron rice. So I layer a combination of cooked veg/nuts in sauce with partly cooked h rice & sauce until its all used up. Then I add a load of fried onions as a garnish & cook it on a low hob or oven. Claudia Roden has some good recipes. Middle Eastern southern med & subcontinental cuisines have good vegetarian recipes.

I just have all the trimmings and that's plenty for me. I find a lot of veggie options have pastry which is too stodgy for me once it's combined with all teh other food

Another veggie who doesn't like Quorn - I find I feel like I've eaten quick setting concrete. Cauldron Foods used to do a Nut Roast which did the trick - goes well with all the usual trimmings.

Don't be like my Mum. After Christmas dinner one year she announced the roasts weren't the same she usually cooked, she'd followed some recipe and done them in Goose fat, after I'd eaten about half a dozen...

Hors d'oeuvre:
A cheese fondue, with miniature choux pastry buns filled with a mushroom cream filling.

Main course:
Sweet potato rosti, underneath a perfect poached egg (with a soft middle), served along side Jerusalem artichoke and a slice of nut roast (made predominantly of cashew nuts and chestnuts).

:( I'm crying as I know it is all in my head and I want to eat it right now!!!

I made these Christmas pies last year and they went down really well. In fact i keep portions of the pie filling in the freezer so that i can make my DD one when we're having a roast dinner.

I saw these today and quite fancied them even though I eat meat again now. Obviously you don't have to serve them in a bun but they sound quite Christmassy in flavour.

Never ever ever get Tofurkey. It is exceptionally nasty.

I enjoy a veggie haggis with all the (vegetarian) veggies!

Anything with Brie and cranberry would get my veggie vote. How about Brie, cranberry and chopped pecans either as tartlets or in filou pastry parcels?

Our tradition is pie, not very Christmassy perhaps but no matter how big I make it there are never leftovers as everyone has some. The filling we have is sweet potato/red pepper/red onion (all roasted) mixed with generous amounts of red pesto and goats cheese.

and dessert: Gu Chocolate Melting Middles