Vegetarian Christmas dinner?

[HereWeGoAgainNow]

I'd be really grateful if the vegetarians here could tell me what they're cooking and eating on Christmas day or Boxing Day please, with links to recipes if at all possible.

We're normally a meat-eating family but my son has become vegetarian at university and I'd like to do meat-free meals while he's home, especially on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Thanks for your help. 🙂

Just don't buy Quorn, we have so many better tasting alternatives now and Quorn is awful.

I think you’re so lovely- my parents really weren’t supportive at all. Now as a mum in an all vegetarian family, we tend to do fancy brunch as this is very easy to do as veggie, and then more tapas Christmas dinner (which also suits my non-roast-loving dc) but if you want to go more traditional, I would just cook as normal (gravy granules are usually accidentally veggie, obvs non-goose fat roasties. There’s a Prosecco or Buck’s Fizz roast carrots recipe around somewhere which is nice) plus get a ready dish of veggie or vegan nut loaf or wellington from m&s or Waitrose which have great options. I’m sure your son would rather enjoy dinner with his family than see him mum have to do multiple variations and run herself ragged. Young adult me would have been thrilled and touched with that.

I would also check with him as it can vary what people like - my DD who is at uni requested quorn with rest of Christmas dinner and "no fancy food" and its best to give them what they want.

This is what I do. It's simple but fiddly so we only have it at Christmas to make it extra special. I make it Christmas Eve for ease. We have to ensure the meat eaters leave enough for the vegetarians (who are the majority) as it's so tasty.

Here it is. https://www.food.com/recipe/layered-cashew-and-mushroom-nut-roast-244571

We are not vegetarian and don't have this at Christmas but I have made it at other times. Very good indeed.

My DS and I love a stuffed pepper. I do also buy supermarkets veggie mains sometimes

I've made this too, and really enjoyed it. It's not too tricky. It's very good cold if there are leftovers.

I've made this too and it's gorgeous. The recipe is written to be vegan. We're not so I used 3 eggs instead of the flaxseed for binding. I used a mixture of sweet potato and butternut squash and roasted them with some spices, e.g. cumin, ras el hanout, paprika. I made the full quantity and divided between two loaf tins. One went into the freezer and survived that very well.

This is my go-to as well. I haven't actually looked at the recipe in years, so I have probably adapted it somewhat. We have one vegan, two veggies and a minimum of one meat eater, and we're all happy with that for Christmas dinner.

Egg and chips !!!!!

Field mushrooms baked with some herbs and topped with either stilton or goats cheese and some breadcrumbs on top. Can't be doing with much faff.

Last year, I made a walnut en croute for Christmas Day and a butternut squash filo
pie for Boxing Day.

The butternut squash pie just involved roasting some chopped up butternut squash and red onions and putting them in a filo pie with some feta and chilli flakes - topped with nigella seeds.

This is the walnut en croute recipe in case anyone wants it :

1 pkt of puff pastry
1/2 oz butter
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 stick celery finely chopped
1 large garlic clove chopped
2 oz walnuts grated
6 oz cashew nuts grated
8 oz chestnut puree
4oz cheddar
1 egg
1 tablespoon brandy 4oz mushrooms
beaten egg to glaze
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 basil
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and black pepper

melt butter in med sized saucepan and fry onion and celery for 10 minutes until soft but not brown. Remove from heat and stir in garlic, nuts, cheese, eggs, brandy, paprika, thyme and plenty of seasoning.

Roll out 1/3 pastry to a rectangle 6 x 12" approx. Put pate down the centre and place mushrooms on top. Brush edges of pastry with cold water.
Roll out rest of pastry to oblong to fit on top. Place over filling and press down gently. Trim edges.* Make to this stage then freeze. Remove from freezer the day before cooking, flaw completely in fridge. Brush with beaten egg and bake for 30 mins @ 200 c.

Christmas dinner is pretty much the same, just provide a cup of vegetarian bisto gravy. Don’t cook veg/potatoes with the meat or meat juices/fat. Then he can have pretty much the same stuff. Quorn do a ‘roast’ that when sliced is a passable alternative to turkey but.

Things to watch out for are gelatine in stuff and some cheese is not vegetarian (usually the Italian hard cheeses). Check on the packaging if something is vegetarian or vegan.

Other than that. It’s not too hard.

Lots of veggie recipes are pastry based which can be too heavy. The lentil cranberry loaf looks great.
I know some people say avoid Quorn but the turkey and stuffing slices are good with a Christmas dinner warmed in some veg gravy.

As a veggie since I was a kid and with a vegan DIL, I wouldn’t dream of serving fake meat, that stuff is ultra processed unhealthy gack and what person ethically against eating animals wants to pretend to eat animals!

it’s simple to concoct a vegan or veggie main - nut roast or a suffer veg or something takes minutes to assemble. Or something with pastry. No need to serve pretend corpse.

I haven't been veggie for years, but I do like a nut roast..

I'm not veggie or vegan but I'm with this.

What's the point? There's so many much nicer options that frankly taste better.

(Veggie haggis excepted here because it doesn't try and pretend to be meat in the same way and is actually nice).

there are a few steps but it really isn’t difficult- I am no expert !! It’s really quite easy to make it look good and the roulade doesn’t break when you roll it - the egg makes it quite easy to work with. It’s possible to make the day before apparently but I haven’t tried that but I have reheated slices of it on Boxing Day and it’s just as nice - those I made it for have asked for the recipe even non veggies.

That looks lovely, will add to the recipe pile!

DH is veggie and he always makes Sarah Brown lentil loaf.

I have Christmas with friends. They tried a couple of things years ago (bought things like nut roast), but I said not to worry because frudge & .oven space are a premium & I'm the only veggie. I'm vey happy with the all the other bits. I don't need a specific 'centre piece!'

But lots of lovely sounding things as you are doing veggie meals!

I would stay away from Quorn and other meat substitutes to be honest. Nut roasts reheat well so you can stretch them for a couple of meals, just serve them with the usual vegetables.

A vegetable lasagne is always a good shout, if not particularly seasonal. You can prepare in advance and cook when needed.

if you’re pressed for time, Aldi does a really nice parsnip, cheddar and mushroom pie (pack of two in the freezer section) that I’d be happy to have with Christmas veg.

Not Quorn.

At least not without checking. A surprising number of people have an intolerance to it, and IMO the roast is like eating a lump of slightly rancid sorbo rubber.

We'll be having a mushroom and chestnut wellington this year. Sometimes it's a nut roast instead, or salmon-style tofu en croute, or veggie haggis.

@RainbowBagels all the veggie pies etc in Aldi are in their freezer section in my Aldi.

Very, very simply:
Chestnut nutroast
Grilled and glazed root tray (carrots, parsnips, sweet potato, beetroot, red onion)
Hasselback potatoes
Mushroom gravy
Yorkshire puddings
Cranberry sauce
Butter-tossed steamed brussel sprouts