Veggies meals that wow

[BlackAffronted]

I am havoing a dinner party, one guest is a vegetarian so want to make the menu all veggie. I have already decided on Arancini for my starter (i think!). I need some yum main courses. I have the river cottage veg everyday cook book, but not sure what is dinner party-ish from it. Help please?

Try a Dennis Cotter recipe, they always have the wow factor. Yotam Ottolenghi produces pretty amazing combinations too - check out The Guardian for his recipes.

Thank you.

http://www.101cookbooks.com/iphonerecipes/main_courses.html this blog has some lovely recipes

Sorry, am on phone, link clearly did not work!

Its ok, Ill copy & paste it :)

I think a selection of curries is great, it won't go with arancini though!

If you are going veggie and you want to impress with curries I think you need to explore curries from Kerala/South India - otherwise I think you'd struggle to make something impressive. If you have a copy of Rasa's cookbook you're in with a good chance - as long as you can get hold of the ingredients. I love their Alphonso Mango and Plantain curry served with lemon rice. Thorans are good too, colourful, fresh tasting and hot on the tongue.

I did a middle eastern style mezze recently for a large group of people - it was great but involved a huge amount of work - I cooked 10 dishes!

I recently made two veggie Sri Lankan curries, and then did pickled okra, just for DD and I though, not for a dinner party.
I've almost meat to try a thoran, but never got round it.

I've always meant to try....... that should have read.

Google Yotam Ottolenghi...his veggie dishes are amazing.

Thorans are pretty easy - as long as you can get hold of curry leaves you can prepare them in 15mins, their flavour celebrates the veg you are using - my dcs live them - we most often make an inauthentic frozen pea version.

Yes, I can get curry leaves in Morrison's.
I'll definitely do one next time I make curries then.

I didnt want to do curries in case the spices were too much for some of my guests ... though I might try some for me & DH!

Something like mushroom wellingtons?
I've never tried them though.
My veggie food is either curries/beans lentils which isn't really dinner partyish, or normal food with no meat, tomato pasta, pizza with no meat and so on.
How posh are you going?
What about the slow cooker falafels with a whole load of help yourself bits to add to wraps on the table? Salsas, guacamole, different salads and so on?

I think if you're doing Arancini for starters, you need Italian to follow too - how about some sort of butternut squash and sage pasta with rocket salad? But it may then become too carby overall.

I'd generally go with either the curry idea or the Middle Eastern idea - maybe hoummus, tsatziki, pittas etc as a starter followed by a veggie tagine, cous cous and some Middle Eastern salads, followed by some sort of damp citrus sponge with cream into which you've folded a bit of orange flower water then sprinkled with pistachios?

Nadine abensur does a fabulous baked risotto which comes out of a loaf tin looking like a stripy terrine and with skinny asparagus in the top. It looks very posh and its dead easy.

Hmmm a Middle Eastern feast type thing sounds very appealing!

Thanks for all the ideas, I have some fab ideas for meat-free diners for us too now :)

Thing is, veggies (and I speak as one) are usually pretty good at curries themselves and probably eat a fair few. I'd love a selection of middle eastern mezzo. Have also done Mushroom and Chestnut Wellington for dinner party

I think you need to think through how many guests you have. If you want to impress stay away from risotto, lasagne, pasta in general...unless you are making ravioli - which would be tricky for a large number. Mushroom wellington is always a bit of a let down for me.

This stuffed pepper recipe blew everyone away at my mezze - that and Moro's recipe for Falafel with a tahini sauce.

Romano Peppers stuffed with feta, pine kernals & mint adapted from a recipe by Catherine Mason, Vegetable Heaven

Serves 2

2 Romano peppers
2 shallots, finely chopped
15g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic - finely chopped
200g feta, drain, wash dry and crumble
Zest from 1 lemon (original recipe 1/4 preserved lemon)
15g mint leaves
50 pine kernals toasted
ground black pepper

Preheat oven - fan 190C

1. Cut peppers in half lengthways, leave stalks attached, remove seeds, then rinse and dry.

2.Fry shallots in butter and olive oil until soft, add garlic, cook for a couple of minutes. Set pan aside to cool.

1. Put the feta, mint and lemon zest into a food processor, whiz till smooth.

Miz cheese puree with the pine nuts and the shallots, probably salty enough but taste for salt & pepper.

1. Put the mixture into the halved peppers and place them on an oiled baking dish. Bake cover with foil for 30 min and then uncovered for 15mins.

The Cranks bible by Nadine Abensur has some great veggie recipes, the dolcelatte, broccoli and walnut pie is always a winner . Has lots of Mediterranean/ middle eastern recipes too.

Only one guest is veggie, but didnt want to prepare 2 seperate meals. but if I do a selection, I could include some meat ones for us carnivores. The stuffed peppers sound delcious!

I do a v similar stuffed peppers recipe - just mash feta, finely chopped red onion, lemon juice, bit of olive oil and some herbs and use to stuff the peppers, then cook until the peppers are done.

I'd keep the whole meal veggie, but then I don't hold dinner parties, I do watch CDWM though!

I've been thinking of doing mezze for ages, just for DD and I though.
I love doing lots of dishes, I get to mess around in the kitchen all day, and I can make dishes that I don't think DD will like, knowing there'll be other dishes she does.

I'd do stuffed romano peppers to start, and then the river cottage fake mushroom risotto for main. It uses orzo pasta instead of rice. Even my carnivorous hubby loves it. And it's definitely a talking point.