Best very easy recipe for me to cook for vegetarian guest.

[IwishIwasmoreorganised]

My best friend has a vegetarian boyfriend. They're visiting soon, and I have no idea what to cook (I can't remember the last time we had anything other than pizza that was vegetarian!).

I was thinking just a nice veg soup to start - how can I jazz that up?

What about main course though?

I'm not the best of cooks so if anyone has some basic vegetarian recipes they wouldn't mind sharing I'd be very grateful!

Stodgy? Spicy? Mediterranean?

What do you like and will you all eat veggie for the night?

What about a vegetarian lasagne or a ratatouille served with rice/mash? Perfect for this cold weather!

recipes.sparkpeople.com/recipe-detail.asp?recipe=1019313

This is lovely

We'll all eat vegetarian I think.

Any kind of food - just has to be very straightforward for me to cook

Veg fajitas are lovely and sociable food. Buy the sauce and add to onions, mushrooms, courgettes and peppers. Serve with warm tortillas, salad, cheese, guacamole, salsa and soured cream. You can buy all the dips.

Loving the idea of the curry and the fajitas. Thanks.

Try this tomato and goats cheese tart from delia. Choose a fresh goats cheese, check it's veggie (one that doesn't have a rind) for a more subtle flavour. Serve with a green salad dressed with balsamic vinegarette or boiled baby potatoes and broccoli. So easy and so tasty....looks impressive too.

Veg soup - best to pick just one or two vegetables as the main taste, and take from there, eg curried cauliflower, spinach and nutmeg, tomato and tarragon. Remember to use vegetable stock ...

That tart looks fab snow, it could do as a starter really with a bit of salad too.

I was thinking of soup to start then veggie lasagne, but I like bread with my soup and garlic bread with lasagne so think it might end up too heavy.

I've never done it as a salad but yes you could do - or instead of using tomatoes you could top with caramelised onions - they do take a while to colour though and might be a bit too faffy. From experience I would not do risotto, lasagna or veggie chilli - as a former veggie they were the standard go to, they bored me to tears because they are often done quite badly.
A veg soup - cauliflower puréed with a generous splash of cream and maybe some truffle oil. Borscht with fried potatoes and soured cream is lovely.
If you struggle with cooking I'd do olive nibbles etc, forget about a formal starter and focus on a good main course - buy in a pudding.

This one is popular too

Aubergine and Haloumi adapted from Cranks Fast Food

Ingredients:

3 medium aubergines sliced into 1cm thick slices
1 packet of haloumi cheese sliced into 1/2 cm slices
6 cubes of coriander pesto (see below)
few glugs of olive oil

Method:

Place the aubergine slices on greaseproof paper and bake in a 180C oven for 10-15 minutes. You can do this the day before or earlier in the day if you wish.

Layer 1/3 of the eggplant followed by 3 cubes of pesto (defrosted if you have time) and half the haloumi. Repeat finishing with a layer of aubergine. Drizzle with olive oil.

Bake in a hot 220c oven for about 20 minutes. Serve with green salad, tomatoes & chives.

Coriander pesto

1 bunch of coriander
rind of 1 lime finely chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 chilli - very finely chopped
2 tbsp almonds - ground
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
60ml mild olive oil
salt

Method:

Put all ingredients of the pesto in a food processor and turn on. Place pesto in a ice cube tray and freeze. The pesto makes many things zing especially veggie soup.

Delia has a recipe for a trice baked soufflé - easier than it sounds as you bake it once before guests arrive and then again just before you are ready to eat - very little faffing.

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/souffle/twice-baked-goats-cheese-souffles-with-chives-and-balsamic-vinaigrette.html

aubergine parmigiana
straightforward and delicious
don't make soup, do a little posh salad to start with radiccio, pear, blue cheese and hazelnuts
or do a main and a pudding

mushroom risotto.

No don't do mushroom risotto - it's a bit of a joke dish among veggies. Not that it doesn't taste nice - if you like mushrooms, it's the dish they always get offered because its easy - but it will never feel special - even if you added morels and truffle.

www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/recipes/3346033/Sophie-Conran-Soup-kitchen-to-a-Conran-design.html

This sophie contain recipe is amazing. I've made it several times and serve it with couscous mixed with some flakes almonds and parsley and a green salad.

Sophie CONRAN

What about a moroccan style dinner? You could get some hommous and pitta, with a few other bits like olives and feta for a starter then try something like this Moroccan carrot and chickpea stew. Very easy to make and real tasty.

If you do a simple soup and want to make it more interesting, you could make hot croutons- toast a couple of pieces of bread, and cut into small bits. Fry in hot oil for a few minutes that also has chopped chillis in.

If you want to keep it relatively easy, just go for some pasta. Any veggie soup + bread sounds a lovely starters (if you want, you can make it look fancier by bunging a drizzle of cream and/or some chopped fresh herbs/croutons on top), then cook up some penne or fusilli and toss it with something like diced feta, sundried tomatoes, some little pomodorino/cherry tomatoes, black olives, some fresh spinach, and a bit of balsamic vinegar/olive oil/salt+ pepper dressing. Serve with a green salad or garlic bread.

For dinner last night I roasted cubes of pumpkin with some garlic and chilli, toasted a handful of walnuts, crisped a handful of sage leaves by dropping them quickly into hot oil, finely grated some ricotta salata - you could use Pecorino instead - then just cooked lots of pasta shells. When the pumpkin was tender I drained the pasta keeping back about a cup of the water, then mixed everything through with a good grating of nutmeg and enough of the pasta water to make a light sauce. Shave some curls of Parmesan over the top - add a big bowl of salad and some crusty bread - dinner is served!

Check out BBC Food Recipes and look for dishes by Simon Rimmer. Most of his are veggie, simply and taste and look impressive! His lemongrass risotto is amazing! I do this as veggie for me then add a nice piece of grilled fish for the rest.