Please help a newbie veggie with her xmas dinner

[ijustwanttoaskaquestion]

DP and I have been veggie since june and we are doing really well (ok, so we still eat fish so please don't flame me for not being a true veggie - we have to make a start!). I have a few standard meals that go down really well, but i have to admit to being really stumped for xmas dinner.

Its a big deal in our house, well of cousre it is My mum will be here, and DD1 (left home) who are both carnivoires. DD2 is only four and we still give her chicken as i worry about the protein content of her diet etc. So for them i guess it will still be turkey, albeit a tiny free range affair

What do you veggies do to make your xmas dinner really special and different? Ive never tried nut roast, tried to look for a premade one but never been able to find one - im allergic to quorn which doesn't help. We eat so much salmon that actually it wont be special to have that for xmas dinner. I'm a bit about nut roasts unless anyone hs a fantastic surefire recipe to recommend, ive never cooked it and it looks expensive - we are on a VERY tight budget this year.

Thanks in advance

I normally buy something a bit special from M&S Xmas range. Then we have loads of veg- at least 6 varieties.

ive never found anything i like at M&S, maybe they do nut roasts though - see, i suffer from stunted imagination

I usually make a chestnut and mushroom roast thing wrapped in puff pastry and served with all the usual trimmings - bread sauce, cranberry jelly, sprouts, carrots cooked in orange juice, roast tatties, parsnips etcetera.

This year I am probably going to make a gougere with a mushroom and red wine filling. I've made it quite a lot for special meals and it is a very nice veggie meal. I use Rose Elliots books a lot - she has got to be one of the most fantastic veggie cooks I know of.

I once made a chestnut nut roast from Delia's Complete Cookery Course for a vegetarian friend at Christmas. It was lovely and really easy to make.

My lovely mum always makes me 'creamy leek croustade' from Cranks I think. I'll try and find a recipe, it's YUM!

ohhh Mr Fibble do you have a receipe for either you can share? My mum is veggie and coming here!

That was hard. Anyway, found it, I highly recommend it, it's delicious and has always been a hit with any veggies over xmas. You can make the base in advance too, then just add the topping when you're ready...

www.classicescapes.com/newsletter/recipes-leek-croustade.html

I do indeed. I will dig out the recipe tomorrow and type it in.

um... that leek thingy looks good.

Always do a chestnut roast, can't find the recipe atm, but I love all the trimmings so always do what everyone else has - ie veg, yorkshires, roast potatoes, stuffing, yummy onion gravy etc etc. Can't stand it when I go out for a christmas dinner at a restaurant and everyone else is having lovely roast dinners and the veggie option is 'pasta bake' ie a few pasta twirls mixed with a tin of tomatoes. So I love to do a proper Christmas dinner. nut roast can be fab - try m and s or sainsbos if you don't fancy making your own. Good luck

oooh, some yummy sounding things here, yes, i want all the trimmings roast potatoes, we dont have them much, i miss them sooooooo much

When I was vegetarian I always had Rose Elliot's White Nut Roast with Herb stuffing for Christmas dinner. It is easily the nicest nut roast (in fact, the only nice nut roast) I have ever tasted. All the meat-eaters would have some as well.
i am now a lapsed vegetarian but I still make this an extra turkey accompaniment.

Recipe here

This mushroom wellington is lovely.

Last year I used the nut roast recipe off the PETA website but I cheat and buy a posh stuffing from waitrose and use that for the centre layer. I think its nice and my carnivore in laws liked it but I don't know if they were just being polite . I want to do something different this year and preferably something the kids like too. Leek thing sounds good...

thanx Mr Fibble!!!

Rolf that mushroom wellington sounds yummy too!!! can the mushroom wellington be made in advanced? and do you know if reheats/tastes nice the next day?

We make or buy nut roast (I like the Cauldron foods Courgette and Tomato and Nut roast, but it's little) or Vegetarian Haggis (DP loves this), and have all the normal roast dinner trimmings - veggie sausages, gravy, roast potatoes.

Sometimes we buy cheese or homity pies, the dds like these (they aren't keen on nut roast or veggie haggies).

Incidentally my dds are all vegetarian and ridiculously healthy, none of them has been properly ill in 5 years, there are lots of good veggie protein foods that even my fussier children will eat. Iron is the thing to watch out for.

Butterscotch when I made it I think that I prepared the filling the day before, so I just had to assemble it the next day. I used shop-bought pre-rolled pastry so it was really straightforward. I'm sure we ate the leftovers over the next day or so and they were fine. Wouldn't serve the leftovers to guests but fine for us, iyswim!

I always buy the celebration roast from holland and barratts. Then have all the homemade loveliness the extended family have. Tis v nice

Grand Rolf, its only my mum that is veggie, though it sounds yummy I would eat as well we goto my aunt and uncles on Boxing day so I would take left overs with us! Family is fine!

Gorgeous nut roast that my mum does that's not expensive and quick to do. I'm not sure of the exact quantities but it is fairly simple. You could try it out before the big day (it's also lovely cold):

Saute chopped onions, pealed chopped tomatoes, chopped carrots, chopped celery, you could also add mushrooms or peppers or whatever else you want to include. Maybe cranberries or something equally Christmassy! (Never thought of that before, might suggest it this year!)

Add a bag of chopped nuts and some brown bread crumbs (decent amount of each).

Add seasoning (salt, pepper, herbs, whatever you want!)

Bind the whole lot together with beaten egg.

Put it in a deep tin and cover with foil.

Cook on about 180 for half an hour or so. Slice and eat!

Use lots of nuts - that makes it taste extra specially Christmassy in my book!

wow MT, that sounds easy - and yummy too!!

@butterscotch

I've been thinking and unless you have a huge oven (or 3!) you are going to be really pushed to do a gougere as well as a turkey and trimmings. I'd recommend you do a nut roast type thing in a long thin tin that you can turn out and slice - they look really nice. The ones I tend to do are never the same as I make them up as I go along but they are all variations on the chestnut, mushroom theme.

MrFibble'sMum's Chestnut Loaf
Soften 2 or 3 onions in butter
Chuck in punnet of chopped onions
Cook these together for a while - don't worry if it produces lots of liquid.
Chuck in some thyme

Whilst this cooks put about 300g of chopped, cooked and peeled chestnuts in a bowl and mix with a good doublehandful of wholewheat braedcrumbs. Add the mushrooms and onions and any liquid they produce stir it all together and when it has cooled mix in 2 beaten eggs to bind.

Roll out some puff pastry and either make a big sausage roll or line a greased loaf tin spoon in the mixture and close it up and then turn it out onto a baking tray. Glaze with beaten egg. Cook for a good 45 minutes at around 170 degrees. Leave to stand for a while before slicing.

Will post other one later. DS is demanding attention.

The various nut roast options here sound fabulous! Might try Mr fibble's chestnut version this year.

We struggle a bit because I'm allergic to hazelnuts, peanuts, walnuts & (spectacular anaphylactic stylee) to brazils - so can't risk most nut roast recipes or lots of bought in veggie options.

In recent years, I've done a joint of beef or pork for the ILs - none of dh's family can stand turkey, which is lucky as a joint takes up less oven space & doesn't need stuffing, & one of those Quorn roast things for me & dh - a bit boring, but no hassle.

Since you're allergic to Quorn, on a tight budget & catering for meat eaters too, I'd actually suggest buying in a couple of veg options from M&S? I know it's a bit of a cop-out, but you know how much you're spending & don't have a new recipe to grapple with whilst doing everything else too.

Ah - I forgot to say that you can mix in a good glug of red wine when stirring it all up together.