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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

One vegetarian at Christmas lunch

67 replies

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 15/11/2014 16:02

It's me. Any lovely ideas for a main for just one person, please?

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Hakluyt · 15/11/2014 17:34

"hak turkey doesn't taint the other things in the oven (and we've discovered roasting bags), unlike, say, lamb (bleuch)."
One of my vegetarian friends won't eat anything cooked in the same oven as meat. Which can be tricky.

If you don't like pastry how about some risotto balls?

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 15/11/2014 17:38

I do like LM sausage rolls, but deffo not for Christmas dinner. I have them as part of our Christmas Eve tea, and save some for Christmas day tea (with Garners red cabbage - delicious!).

One year I mixed stuffing with some fried up mushrooms, onions and peppers, plus chestnuts, then topped it with smoked cheese and baked it - that was lovely.

I don't mind things being in the same oven as the meat. I'm a veggie, not a professional pita. Wink

For anybody who wants something really easy (and I'm tempted tbh!) Sainsbo's do bubble and squeak veggie sausages, which are gorgeous. They are vegetables though, rather than fake meat ones. I really like them.

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ravenAK · 15/11/2014 17:39

I like a good nut roast too BikeRunSki, but I'm allergic to hazelnuts, walnuts, & brazils, which limits me a bit when it comes to bought ones - no-one's going to be very impressed if I keel over before I've had a chance to get the (nut-free) pudding on Grin.

I do a good cashew roast, but it tends not to hold together very well, so not really a great option for a guest on Xmas Day - tastes great, looks like a mushy little pile of stuffing as it collapses sadly into the gravy.

Filo pastry's at least a bit less stodgy than the puff which you tend to get with bought in veggie wellington type things.

LillianGish · 15/11/2014 17:40

There is usually so much on offer at Christmas lunch roast potatoes, parsnips any other veg, chestnut stuffing, cranberry sauce etc etc I wonder if you'd even miss the turkey.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 15/11/2014 17:40

Ooh I wonder if Waitrose still do veggie haggis at Christmas time?

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RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 15/11/2014 17:41

LG - I don't miss the turkey at all tbh, and am happy enough with all the trimmings, but since I'm chief cook, it would be nice to have something special for me.

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myfriendflickadee · 15/11/2014 18:28

Are there lots of you for Christmas dinner? I do about 10 different vegetable dishes so it's more of a kind of vegetarian feast with a "side" of turkey and sausages wrapped in bacon for the carnivores (and a veggie cocktail sausage version too). You don't really need a specific replacement for the turkey.

The kind of things I make are: roast potatoes, duchess potatoes with chives, Yorkshire pudding, sweet potatoes with orange juice and marshmallows (sounds terrible, I know, I made it for a joke for a Thanksgiving pot luck supper - turns out it's amazing, I get asked to make it every year now), cauliflower cheese, chestnut and wild mushroom bake, roast parsnips, carrots glazed with maple syrup, sage and onion veggie stuffing balls, ratatouille, sweetcorn with peppers (fresh not out of a tin, although that is where I got the idea!), crushed peas with spring onions and chilli, red cabbage with apple and walnuts, green beans sautéed in lemon and garlic with finely chopped pine nuts, stuffed baby marrows or aubergines, mushrooms in garlic and cream, little Padron peppers filled with crumbled feta and garlic breadcrumbs on top, and good old, traditional sprouts. You can also add some chopped cooked bacon afterwards as a garnish for the carnivores to things like mushrooms in garlic and cream to make them a bit more enticing for non veggie fans.

They are all things that are quick to prepare, most can be prepared in advance ready to pop in the oven, and you can scale them down and cook in very small amounts (I have lots of small square Pyrex dishes, the kind you might use for an individual cottage pie, and tapas dishes, you could use small disposable foil pie cases if you don't have small dishes). But if it's just a few people and none of them will eat the veggie dishes, that isn't going to work.

My algorithm is, not counting roast potatoes, stuffing or Yorkshire pudding, one different vegetarian dish (an individual pie dish portion) per person. Most people like to taste most things (a spoonful) and take a larger portion of their favourites. I then scale up or down the dish sizes based on likes and dislikes of the guests.

It sounds complicated but actually it's no more hassle peeling 2 carrots, 2 parsnips, one sweet potato, chopping a handful of mushrooms, than it would be preparing a lot of one vegetable for one dish.

MrsLindor · 15/11/2014 18:32

I'm having a Pieminister pie, I do slimming world so usually avoid pastry so its a special treat, and as I'm cooking easy just to pop in the oven.

myfriendflickadee · 15/11/2014 18:34

Ah... Cross post... I get where you're coming from wanting something special for you.

LoveVintage · 15/11/2014 18:35

What about mushroom stuffed with veggie haggis - you can freeze what you don't use, topped with cheese and chopped nuts, with some redcurrrant jelly? I'm thinkin of having something like that, would be good with all the trimmings.

Bolshybookworm · 15/11/2014 18:58

hak it took enough effort to get my mum to stop putting the roasties in the meat tray! I can understand where your veggie friend is coming from (I hate the taste of meat), but it's just not practical to expect your food to be cooked in a meat free oven when someone else is catering for you. I love having two ovens at home for this reason, though (also- roasting bags!).

Like the idea of the Glamorgan type sausages- I always have veggie gravy in the freezer too.

Mmm, this thread is making me quite exited about Christmas dinner Wink

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 15/11/2014 19:27

There are only four of us.

Actually though, I could have cauliflower cheese maybe. Love the stuff and hardly ever eat it because the dds don't like it, so it would feel like a treat.

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Catsmamma · 15/11/2014 19:30

what about a savoury tart?

Puff pastry with asparagus/caramelised onions/halloumi, or onion/cranberry chutney/cheese of choice

or a mushroomy wellington sort of affair?

natsukashi · 15/11/2014 19:32

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Lurleene · 15/11/2014 19:38

I saw on of these in Sainsburys yesterday and was quite tempted - it looks much fancier than a Quorn roast.

Linda McCartney Celebration Roast

IHaveBrilloHair · 15/11/2014 19:49

This, this, this and more this.
We are omnivores, but loved this, and I was very proud thst I managed to turn it out of the pudding bowl.
www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/m/mushroom_and_chestnut_puds_with_a_rich_red_wine_sauce.html

ravenAK · 15/11/2014 21:06

It's not though Lurleene - it's still just a gussied up 'stuff pretending to be meat' slab of bleh Grin.

I'll cheerfully suffer Quorn etc all year (dh & dc like it, it's easy to cook) but Xmas Day rates something that's actually about the ingredients.

Good option for clueless carnivores when someone's veggie dp/dc needs to be catered for at the last minute, but I don't know any vegetarians who'd choose to serve it.

Lurleene · 16/11/2014 00:24

Oh no really? I thought it looked a bit fancier than other versions I've seen - (well, it had nuts in it I think). Ah well, back to the drawing board.

Allalonenow · 16/11/2014 01:02

How about a choux pastry shell filled with asparagus in a cream or cheese sauce, or ratatouille in a small soup bowl topped with goats cheese and baked or grilled, or stuffed aubergine?

TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 16/11/2014 08:59

Butternut squash and ginger soup for everyone to start
Gratin beetroot and potato dish from Gordon Ramsey?
Didn't River Cottage do a whole book on veggies? There must be some main course dishes in there. ?

spababe · 16/11/2014 09:23

I would be happy with the new Higgidy pie of cauli cheese topped with chestnuts. However, I think you should think of say 3 things you can do then ask the veggie which they prefer of the 3. Whatever you go with the veggie has to eat it out of politeness so if you pick something boring/naff/they don't like, it's worse than nothing at all and just the veg. personally I would hate a Quorn roast or anything cliched that meat eaters seem to think veggies eat as that's what we get all the time when we eat out and it's boring. The M&S mushroom wellington looks lovely but some people don't like mushrooms.

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/11/2014 09:54

I'm the veggie, so can do what I want really. There are zillions of recipes out there, but most of them are for 4. I want something simple and delicious, just for me. Grin

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TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams · 16/11/2014 11:26

Ok - so tell us what you don't like / prefer not to eat apart from ready cooked or meat substitutes?

Would you prefer no pastry and you don't want leftovers?

Artichokes with butter? Total, only on Christmas Day faff?GrinGrin

Something veggie ethnic like Thai or Indian?

RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie · 16/11/2014 14:19

Has to go with all the normal trimmings.
Don't mind pastry.
Don't want leftovers - just a single portion.
Don't like aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes.
As little faff as possible. Needs to fit into a very small oven dish, so I've got room for everything else! :)

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Allalonenow · 16/11/2014 14:24

Grin looks like it's cauliflower cheese then!!