Vegans, is this bad manners?

[Pruni]

Posted a couple of weeks ago about having some vegans round for dinner.

I cooked dismally. It was gross. I can't even remember what I made, I've blanked it out of my mind.

So I went to the library and borrowed a book on vegan cooking (my god how do you DO this every day??! What a faff btw). AM aiming to do better.

Want to know, is this bad manners: to give them fruit and soy ice-cream for dessert, whilst we have proper dairy ice cream? I cannot stand that Swedish Glace stuff, it's rank. Obviously I won't say that, but isn't it bad manners to give someone something you think is to disgusting to eat yourself? Would you be offended?

God MI that sounds good but strawbs and rasps out of season... my inner joyless puritan (who is not a vegan) will not allow purchase of aforementioned items..

MI I am printing this out as those Nigel puddings sound perfect for my fruit-addicted dh (and the alcohol will make it just about edible for me as well).

Frozen raspberries v available though ...Go for the choc sorbet, then, and tell us what it's like.

choc sorbet with....raspberry sauce and langue de chats made with ground hazelnuts

god I 'm such an ponce, Gary Rhodes would be proud of me

Pruni-I give dp food that i find disgusting.He loves it,he isnt offended!

Montezuma Chocolates (in the new development bit of Spitalfields Market) do seriously fantastic vegan truffles and other chocs.

When I had a best friend who was vegan, thse are some of the things I cooked:
polenta (the fried slightly crispy sort not the stodgy semolina sort) with roasted veg and tomato and olive coulis.
Vegetable Tarte Tatin. Base it on Delia's red onion tarte tatin, (or indeed apple tatin but use dark sugar and balsamic to caramelise the veg) but use a selectoin of veg such as courgette, red pepper, and make a fantastic design in the bottom of the pan, so that it looks fab when you turn it out. V easy to make as most ready made puff pasty in the chiller cabinet is vegan.
Vegan Mushroom and wine pudding. Like steak and kidney pud, but use vegetarian suet, add finely chopped fresh herbs to the suet crust, fill with a mixture of mushrooms, including field mushrooms, a thickened wine sauce, lots of chopped fresh parsley - you could add chestnuts if you want.
Thai and S Indian recipes, which are v often vegan.
Fruit and dark choc fondue

Adding gorgeous bread and a more fancy / substantial than usual salad makes a great meal.

Have read this through in a bit more detail (going shopping, taking notes) and realise that with the exception of "The Single Vegan" (Kathy ) I own all those cookbooks.
But I am doing the stew with chestnuts because I love them.
Will let you know how joyless/joyful it turns out to be.

I love Swedish Glace icecream and think it is better than normal icecream! However, as a former vegan I have to say I wouldn't be the least bit offended if someone chose to eat normal icecream while I ate that - would just be incredibly grateful that someone was going to so much effort. Would imagine that they have fairly thick skins anyway...it is impossible to be a vegan and not develop one.

I just found this, online:

Torta di cioccolata alla Margherita

This is Giorgio Locatelli's recipe for a chocolate cake without eggs or dairy. Margherita is his little girl, who suffers from a number of allergies - hence the special cake. I liked the cake very much; it comes out dense, reasonably moist and very chocolatey, so it is well worth using a good cocoa powder like Green and Black's. Locatelli doesn't suggest a dairy free filling/icing, so I improvised one by mixing some melted dark chocolate (no dairy or animal fats) with sweetened chestnut purée. It might have been better to use the chestnut on its own, as a contrast to the dark chocolate cake. Oh, and my unsuspecting taster thought this was a good, but not stunning, standard chocolate cake.

450g plain flour
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
300g caster sugar
125ml vegetable oil
300ml water
2 tbsp distilled white vinegar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Sift all dry ingredients together; mix wet ingredients and add. Beat until smooth. Pour into an oiled 23cm cake tin and bake at 180C for 1 hour. Leave to cool before slicing in half horizontally, if you want to fill the cake with a vegan icing.

almond choccie cake, what i do is sub eggs for mashed bananas or mango (or dried egg sub)use that vegan butter stuff-pure its called and go from there, nigella does one in her book but search the web, i will have a look and post back

I did honeyfflower's stew (recipe further down thread) with chestnuts and mushrooms and ceps and thyme and garlic...and it was soooooooo good. Just fabulous. Highly highly recommended.
And strawberries coated in G+B's 70%. Fab.
many thanks for all the ideas, I will not be so sniffily nervous about it all now.

I would not be offended.I cook liver and kidney for dp which I think is pukesville.but he enjoys it!
I tried to be a vegan years ago....bloody awful.Its abit better now but I think they will be touched at the effort you have made.