Veggie Christmas starter for vegetarian who doesn't eat...

[pushmepullyou]

...well virtually anything really. Specifically -

mushrooms
blue cheese
chestnuts
soft cheese - brie, camembert etc

Can't have butternut squash or goats cheese as I'm doing a butternut squash, sweet potato and goats cheese pie.

The rest of us are all fairly unfussy omnivores, but one guest is allergic to peppers and anything pepper related so can't use any of these. The DC won't reliably eat any vegetable so I need a non vegetable component to distract them with so the rest of us can eat.

Really struggling for ideas. Please help!

Right off to bed now, thanks very much for all the ideas

Fig with mozzarella is lovely, add parma ham for the non-veggies.

Or aspapragus with hollandaise if poached eggs are too tricky for a large number of guests?

Thing is, she'll just say, oh don't worry about me and then sit there looking all sad while we trough big hunks of meat . I am willing to put up with it, but my mum frets

Doesn't like dried fruit. Or cream . I want to do Nige's passion fruit pavlova thingy, but I might do it anywya and 'forget' about the cream

haven't read the whole thread but just to point out parmesan isn't veggie...

I am vegetarian and don't mind at all if starter is different. I don't expect people to cater for me much at all, people have enough on without having to faf around with extra food for me, especially at christmas there is always enough trimmings to keep me going. just saying your sister sounds a bit fussy.

This thread is making me hungry (mainly because, unlike your sister, I will eat anything). And you sound like an utter saint.

If you did decide to go with soups, can you gussy them up with stuff like crispy fried sage leaves (very yummy with parsnip or pumpkin soups) or toasted hazelnuts (again very yummy with parsnip). I know what you mean about soup being a bit difficult to make special - my go-to garnishes are bacon and cream (there's a reason for the spare tyre ...).

I love the sound of the figs though.

You could do the pavlova and serve hers with ice cream instead? Or pav is lovely on its own anyway.

Remember that normal Parmesan is not vegetarian - it has calf stomach in it. You can buy vegetarian 'Italian style cheese' in supermarkets

I did a black olive tapenade and a Stilton port and walnut pâté as my veggie starters last year. Plated up as two little pots of each per plate with home made Melba toasts and a baby leaf garnish. Went down very well. The meat eaters had a similar plate of two little pots of pâté (the Stilton one and a venison and juniper one) so it all looked the same.

Oh that sounds lovely selks, do you have a recipe?

There is a cauliflower cheese coup on BBCGoodFood website which is yummy. I grate the cheese and stir it in rather than cubes. You could add some crispy bacon on top for the omnivores and some nice croutons for the veggie.

I can't believe some posters suggested not having a starter on Christmas Day - the full 3 courses is compulsory on Christmas Day or maybe my family are just piglets

If eggs might be a go-er, but you're not mad enough to do poached as you're trying to do Xmas dinner, what about baked eggs/eggs en cocotte? Seems special ish but not faffy.

Basically an egg, some wilted spinach (or not), a dob of cream/creme fraiche, and some italian hard cheese (sainsbos basics pretendy parmesan is veggie and ok).

Crumble feta cheese and mix with egg and chopped dill. Wrap inside oiled fylo pastry I to triangles. Bake or fry. Eat and rejoice!

greekfood.about.com/od/filledphyllopies/r/GreekPhylloCheeseTriangles.htm

You can ignore the blue cheese and ricotta in the previous recipe and just stick with 200gr feta, cup of grated cheddar, chopped dill or parsley or mint. Watch this for wrapping instruction, it's a lot easier than you may think...

greekfood.about.com/od/phyllofoldingtechniques/ss/FoldingPhylloTriangles.html

Black olive tapenade

Stilton, port and walnut pate
For the stilton pate I crushed the walnuts up into little bits rather than bigger ones, and I think I added a little more port than the recipe suggested

The beauty of these recipes is that they can be made a couple of days in advance and refrigerated; just get out and leave on the kitchen side an hour or so before the meal to bring to room temperature.

DD1 does feta fillo triangles they are yummy.

I was going to suggest samosas, falafel, spring rolls, humous or similar instead of paté. M&S do some really nice posh ones.

Vegi refusing DD2 will eat spring rolls.

Jerusalem fartichoke soup for the veggies in our house. The after effects are no worse than those from sprouts and stuffing.

brie and cranberry crostini on a small bed of salad leaves with a nice balsamic dressing (and maybe a few toasted walnuts?), easy peasy and v. festive.

Basically get a not-too-fresh baguette, slice into thin-ish slices, toast v, lightly on one side, then smear with cranberry and add a slice of brie on top, nuke under grill until just beginning to melt / bubble. Yummy.

sorry just realised she doesn't do brie! back to drawing board ...

Honestly, just do the figs, cheese and Parma ham. Give your sister figs and melon. She'd be incredibly unreasonable to kick up a fuss.

My sister is irritatingly fussy and goes in a huff over any little thing (or actually throws a tantrum!). I reached the point a few years ago where I just won't pander to it any more, no matter how much she complains to my mum. It's amazing how much more reasonable she's becomes since I stopped putting up with shit. It does help that I don't have to invite her for Christmas dinner though.

arbitrary glad I'm not coming to yours for Christmas. She's your ds fgs

You haven't met my sister! You wouldn't be pandering to her either.

We are a family with several veggies. I always make (a fortnight or so in advance and freeze it) watercress soup, and just give everyone a very small cupful as a starter (old-fashioned dinner coffee cups). A blob of sour cream and a few chopped chives on top. To my surprise even my teenage DS liked this when I first made this and now its become our traditional starter. Very easy.