Veggie mains for Christmas Day

[RiverTam]

We are finally having Christmas at home this year! DH and DD are veggie and I'm looking for a main course to have alongside all the usual veg - parsnips, red cabbage, sprouts, roasties etc.

We've had a go at a nut roast (a Jamie one, I think) but it was awful. And quite a lot I've seen don't go with traditional sides, or are a complete meal in themselves. I don't mind forgoing a roast but I'm buggered if I'm not having my festive veg!

What are your cracking Christmas veggie mains? If you could link to a recipe that would be great, I can follow a recipe but I'm not an intuitive cook at all!

(I'm going out but will check back later if you're wondering why I've gone quiet).

Thanks so much!

🍽☃🎄

I was just wondering about starting a similar thread! Not feeling very inspired this year :)

We tried Delia Smith's cheese and parsnip roulade last year. We made it beforehand and didn't like the filling, but liked the idea of a roulade. So we did a chestnut and mushroom stuffing instead.

We had another Christmas dinner on Boxing day and I made mushroom, goats cheese and caramelised onion filo parcels which went rather nicely with all the trimmings.

I do a roasted veg, mozzarella and pecan nut strudel from a Delia book. It is delicious and can be prepared on xmas eve and just cooked through on the day.

We didn't actually eat them on Christmas Day but last year I bought the M&S mushroom Wellington and the parsnip & Camembert pie from the Christmas food and they were both lovely.

Agree WhatWouldLeslieKnopeDo that the roulade base from that is brilliant but the parsnip filling is pretty tasteless. How did you do the mushroom and chestnut filling? That sounds lovely.

I've done a spinach and mushroom filling which has been really good. Also roast squash and feta. The base is so easy and versatile.

I've always wanted to try a big festive veggie Wellington as well.

Anne if I remember correctly it was just onions and mushrooms softened in butter and then some finely chopped chestnuts (I use the pre-cooked ones). Very easy. Your alternative fillings sound lovely too

That sounds easy and delicious. Pre-cooked chestnuts are a revelation! What price tpainfree finger tips!

How do you get it to stick to the base? Just spread it over and hope for the best when you roll it?

The advantage of the (bland) parsnip version is it's like glue. But the butternut was similar, and I mixed in some cream cheese, with added colour and flavour. Next time I'll add pine nuts.

We had this squash wellington (or very similar anyway) one year and it was lovely.
The meat eater pinched quite a bit. The best bit I think is that it can be made up the day before and just popped in the oven on the day, so there's much less faff on Christmas day, and more family time.

I made a Stilton and butternut squash Wellington last year, which went down well. And the year before I did a Christmas filo parcel that had layers of chestnut and porcini, spinach, Brie and cranberry in. That was quite fiddly to do but very well received!

Thanks so much everyone! Will definitely give some of these a try before the big day. Though I have an annoying feeling that DH isn't that keen on chestnuts...

Anne yes I just shoved it in and hoped for the best!

My mum makes me a squash and blue cheese and muHroom pie. Think it's just the veg fried in oil with garlic and cheese mixed in and shoved in puff pastry it tastes great. That Brie and crnaberry sounds lush

I'm veggie, and for years I've had vegetarian haggis (from Waitrose) for my xmas dinner. Goes really well with all the usual trimmings, and just needs microwaving.

My go-to veggie main is Parsnip, cranberry & chestnut loaf. Goes down well, even with the non-veggies.

I would recommend cheese and onion pie .

I would say a nice pie as well. You can put any fillings in it with a nice creamy sauce, would go with the traditional Xmas day sides.

We get the vbites veggie Christmas pack which has slices of Turkey and pigs in blankets

I just have Quorn family roast or turkey breast. I either have pigs in blankets from Holland and Barratt or Quorn cocktail sausages, then the usual trimmings.

DH and I are vegetarian and TBH , Christmas Dinner isn't where I want to start doing all the labour intensive thngs like the roulade (which is very nice BTW but with a salad) .
I've done filo pastry stars (squares overlapped to form star shapes baked in shallow Yorkshire pudding tins) filled with assorted mushrooms baked with garlic.

Brie in breadcrumbs or filo

Savoury choux pastry made with cheese (Delia fills with mushroom, I like brocilli)
Good Housekeeping White Nut Loaf (chestnut,artichokes,white nuts, thyme, breadcrumbs, onion in butter and cheese) make ahead, freeze, cook from frozen.

I usually do the Quorn Roast (easy to cook, don't overcook it, leave to rest then slice) or last year Linds McCartney Festive Roast .
By the time to add all the delicious sides, you don't want anything too complex.
There's all the other days for them

I'd go for a nice pie also, and dress it up a bit with pastry holly leaves made with any small rond cutter. Leek and asparagus, fennel and broad bean, vegetarian sausage onions and herbs are just a few ideas.

Or an open puff pastry flan, goats cheese and asparagus, leek fennel and feta, aubergine courgette and boursin (pre cook the aubergine), onion tomato and mushroom especially if you can get some unusual mushrooms such as puffball.

You want something celebratory and looking good when served out so not lentils in the slow cooker!

My go to is either Delia's French onion tart - much more delicious than it sounds and I put goats cheese on the top as well as cheddar.

Or an a filo pastry pie filled with wilted spinach, ricotta, feta and toasted walnuts and a few raisins stirred through. Glazed with butter, sumac and sesame seeds it takes minute to assemble and cooks in 20 minutes as the meat rests.

Last year I made a lentil Wellington, from the BBC food website. The year before, DH made a butternut squash and feta tart. He would be happy just to have the potatoes and veg, but I think you need a centrepiece of some sort. I don't know what we're doing this year. MIL and her SIL are fighting over who gets to have the difficult uncle. I suspect we'll end up with ILs and Uncle.

I make a colourful Christmas pie looking something like this but I ring the changes each time for what layers I put in. No recipe as such but all you do is line a cake tin with ready-rolled pastry, fill it with stuff and then bake it for a bit. You can make the filling layers days before to save cooking time on the day but if you do that it's a good idea to warm each one up before it goes into the pie, as if you fill the pastry case with cold-from-the-fridge fillings it will take a lot of cooking time for the heat to penetrate to the middle.

Different layers I have done, pick 3 or 4 that will go together:

Garlic sautéed mushrooms
Roast aubergines
Nut roast
Red-wine poached red onions
Grilled and skinned bell peppers
Spinach-and-ricotta (ocado do a hard ricotta that you can grate for this and it's much less sloppy than if you make it with normal ricotta)
Cheese layer either brie or stilton or halloumi or feta
Butternut squash
Sweet potato
Slices of Quorn fillets
Falafel mix
Griddled cougette ribbons

• or make up your own of course.

Quorn roast makes you feel like you're eating the same as everyone else. Although last year my husband cooked some lovely Sea Bass.