Vegetarian Christmas - what are you having?

[WhereDidSummerGoAgain]

I've got the following in my M&S food to order basket but having a wobble about the No Turkey.

• No Turkey crown x 2
• Butternut Squash, Brie & Caramelised Onion Wellington
• Potato Dauphinoise
• Christmas pudding

And we'll make roasties, carrots, parsnips, red cabbage, stuffing etc plus some kind of starter.

I'm not sure about the pretend turkey though. We had it last year and it was great for mirroring a traditional meaty Christmas meal (which was a bit of a novelty) but the actual fake turkey wasn't that amazing tbh.

I'd like two "mains" so it's feels like a feast and so people have options.

What are you having?

Can anyone suggest something instead of the no turkey crown?

Yes it's lovely. They have a year round nut roast which is great but they have a festive looking one on their website too currently .I look at it like their food is still cheaper than eating out and ten times nicer and I haven't seen a nut roast on a menu for years anyway!

@WhereDidSummerGoAgain on your list the Wellington sounds lovely but why is it always butternut squash! And have they added enough brie....brie is important ❤

Mushroom Wellington- very nice! Have you tried the Australian recipe?

My personal favourite is a nut roast, Artisan do a cashew nut one that's lovely. Usually also serve a Quorn roast & Linda McCartney sausage rolls.

We're a vegetarian & vegan household with some fussy ones, for a Christmas feast more is more! Plenty of leftovers so nothing gets wasted.

@PhantomErik have you had the Linda sausage rolls lately? I bought three packs as on three for two in sainsburys, I gave two packs to a neighbour and the ones I cooked went into the bin and I never waste food. They are just ABSOUTLEY awful now, i used to love them, not sure what has happened with them the pasty is foul and the filling is almost non existent and what is there is terrible like a paste.

I was just making sure as i would not want your Christmas to be ruined by them if you haven’t bought them for a while. I think the Aldi plant menu ones are much nicer.

@Allseeingallknowing i don’t know what that is, but im not going to make one !

Ooh CalzoneOnLegs I haven't bought any in a little while so will grab some to try. I buy the Tesco meat free party sausage rolls regularly & they are a firm favourite so may just get those instead.

Thanks for the heads up x

@PhantomErik im not exaggerating they are so vile ! The Aldi Ones are nice and you can cut them up into little ones before cooking as well. They’re peppery and lots of filling and the pastry is lovely and flaky. I really don’t know what has happened to Linda’s , when they were vegetarian and not vegan I used to eat all six in one go I loved them that much 🐷🐷🐷🐷

DH is vegetarian and always makes himself a lentil loaf to go with Xmas vegetables.

I just feel like you can’t go wrong with a quorn turkey roast and it’s great for fake turkey sandwiches after Christmas too!

@Btowngirl I have never tasted that, I’ve had the quorn chicken burger with the crusty coating in a pub though, I wasn’t too keen, is it similar ?

No I would say waaaay better. The taste is amazing and the texture is much better in my opinion, lovely on crusty white bread with stuffing and mustard and also lovely with some avocado and chilli flakes, it’s probably my all time favourite meat substitution. I am not a fan of seitan or anything like that though really!

This is a shame! The Linda McCartney stuff was all we used to be able to get back in the early 00’s, the pies were elite.

Vegan not vegetarian, but we usually do a wellington which is a beetroot, squash and kale one but I’ve seen a parsnip, sage, lentil, mushroom and apple one which I’m going to try out in the next couple of weeks, so we may have that instead or maybe both

Also we are having a wreath with mushrooms, garlic, nuts, seeds and cranberries which is lovely.

I don’t eat the Linda McCartney sausage rolls but my kids, one who eats meat, loves them and have them as a snack sometimes. The sausage rolls been vegan for many years now. Even my anti vegetarian/vegan FIL will eat them.

@Btowngirl thank you, is it quite savoury as I found the chicken burger literally had no,taste at all it just ….was ‘there’ if you see what I mean !

@Btowngirl i do quite like the country pies but I am fussy about pastry so it’s a faff for me to cook them as I don’t like them being in that foil dish so I cook them in the dish then remove them carefully and flip them so the bottom pastry cooks otherwise it’s uncooked and translucent and just horrible, they do a smashing pie in Aldi right now mushroom rarebit and it’s pre cooked pastry so not soggy.

Me too big plate of the veg

I used to start with them upside down with the foil off, then once I was happy with the bottom pastry, flip them back and put back in the foil. Stops the top burning too

I make a caramelised red onion tart with feta or marscapone. I add other vegetables like lentils, thin red peppers, cherry tomatoes... whatever doesn't get eaten comes back out with the cheeses and snacks for boxing day :)

I’ve made a butternut squash wellington thing before, and like veggie haggis too.

Nut roast for me! I use a Waitrose recipe from about 15 years ago as it’s surprisingly hard to find one with no mushrooms that isn’t dry!

@Anxioustealady will try that ! I absolutely hate uncooked pastry 🤮

ETA i like them with baked beans and mashed potato ! So sophisticated 😊

@WhereDidSummerGoAgain COOK is excellent in my experience. Their roast potatoes are really lovely too. It's expensive but like a PP, I think of it as being a lot cheaper than eating out.

Interesting to see the Aldi mushroom pie..... I picked up a cauliflower cheese one yesterday in store as it was 50% off but I'd have probably preferred the mushroom one!

Hairy Bikers nut roast.

@WhereDidSummerGoAgain We're going for a mix of home made and ordered in

Totally with you on that! In general I’ve found the denser nut/bean/winterveg type fillings can be made in advance and freeze quite well so only need defrosting and wrapping in the pie/wellington closer to Christmas.

You do need to set a reminder to take it out in time 😂