What's your favourite meat free dinner?

[XBenedict]

DH and I would like to have a "meat free Monday" in an attempt to cut down on the amount of meat we eat but I only have a couple of veg recipes in my list of favourites. What are you favourites/recommendations? (Including websites/mags/books)

[eslteacher]

At the moment my favourite vegetarian recipe is a warm, hearty salad from an old Asda mag

Sweet Potato, Red Onion and Goats Cheese Salad

• Peel and dice one or two sweet potatoes
• Peel one or two red onions and cut into wedges
• Put both on baking tray, toss in oil and brown sugar, bake in oven at 190 for 15 minutes
• Take a pack of cherry tomatoes, halve them, and add them to the tray. Cook for another 15 minutes.
• Get bag of salad leaves (esp rocket) and divide between three or four plates. Dress with oil and balsamic vinegar. Take your sweet potato mix out of the oven, and divide between the plates directly on top of the salad.
• Cut up some goats cheese and sprinkle across the plates. It will melt into the sweet potato mix. Add salt and black pepper.

The original recipe also called for toasted pine nuts, but they're so pricey I just omit them. But could be good with maybe walnuts instead, and if you don't like goats cheese it could work with mozarella or another soft melty cheese perhaps?

[MCos]

I love my modified version of this one

I add extra veg to the onion and fry for another 10 mins or so before adding the lentils. I also add a tin of lowfat coconut milk.
I make a double batch, and freeze half.

[beccaamuseyourbouche]

Feel free to check out my blog for lots of simple vegetarian recipes :) and congrats on deciding to do Meatless Mondays! It's an awesome step for so many reasons! //www.amuse-your-bouche.com

[Trazzletoes]

Oooh is forgotten about Ottolenghi. He does an AWESOME fennel crumble. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm. And I don't even like fennel!

[capercaillie]

Love the HFW veg book. At least 4 of our meals a week are from that.

Love the vegeree, veg biryani (v cheap), cauliflower pakora, chickpea stew, oven roasted ratatouille, Beetroot pizza, kale pizza, green bean pesto pasta, fennel and rocket pasta, greens and chilli pasta. So many - we've done more than those ones and all have been good and we cook most regularly.

[ShoeWhore]

Nigella's veggie chilli is great (it's the one with cornbread topping although I've never actually made the topping)

[ShoeWhore]

HFW's North African vegetable stew is fab.

Ottolenghi's Ultimate Couscous
Ottolenghi also does a tomato and fennel soup which we love.

Risotto - with green summer veg or mushrooms

Various curries

Variations on roasted veg + interesting herbs/spices + chickpeas + sometimes feta

Amazing Nigel Slater thing with roasted aubergines from Kitchen Diaries I think

[Wallison]

Curried scrambled eggs from Madhur Jaffrey's veggie cooking book. I could eat that every day. Love it.

[Keepthechangeyoufilthyanimal]

Sweet potato and/or butternut squash, chick pea & spinach curry - so quick and simple to make too. (We sometimes have this with chicken if we are feeling flush )

Roasted veg fajitas (red & yellow pepper, red & white onion, corguettes, mushrooms etc)

I often chop and roast any veg I have, stir in a carton of passata and whack a big dollop on top of pasta with grated cheese

Or this Lentil bolognese

My DH is a huge meat eater but loves all of these

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

You could probably replace the squash with sweet potatoes, if the dc will eat those.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Smoked paprika is lovely. The little tins are the best but my silly Sainsbo's doesn't stock them.

[Merguez]

Remus, haven't done the potato one, but do like the merguez chickpeas and squash, unfortunately the dc won't touch squash so don't make it very often.
Also have to thank HFW for introducing me to smoked paprika, which is awesome spice.

[ouryve]

Green lentil moussaka is another one I love. They take all the same flavourings as lamb (in this case, garlic, oregano and possibly a bit of mint) incredibly well.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Thanks Merguez. Not the wedges which are your namesake then? :) Actually they are nice, but not unlike the wedges I do generally anyway. The tarte tatin does look nice but the dds won't eat beetroot so it's no use at the mo.

[ouryve]

Chilli non-carne - particularly nice made with butternut squash and black beans. DH polished some of that off for his breakfast, once!

There's a recipe for chickpea and cauliflower curry in HFW's veg book and it's quite lovely.

Roasted veg lasagne - but not like the gluey mush they serve as the only veggie option in pubs. I roast peppers, aubergine, red onion and courgette with rosemary, thyme, garlic and a bit of salt in olive oil and use that as the base. The roasted veg freeze well.

If you can find a good recipe, it's a little faffy, but home made spinach and ricotta canneloni is delicious.

[Merguez]

My favourite HFW veggie recipes are:

beetroot tarte tatin; pistachio dukka; Pasta with greens, garlic and chilli (we have a variation on this almost every week, so quick and easy); chachouka; Mexican tomato and black bean soup. And variations on the magic bread dough, especially the flat breads.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

:)
Am interested to know which recipes people have particularly liked from it. Tbh most of it is just too snacky and basic for my liking: I don't need recipes to shove something in a pitta bread.

[YoungBritishPissArtist]

Thanks for replying, Remus. I don't like tinned tomatoes either! I may borrow it from the library, the Rose Elliot one too, and scan any recipes I like

[curiousgeorgie]

Fajitas, with aubergine, mushroom & courgette. Amazing.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I think the recipes in the HFW book are mostly very bland (his dhal recipe is an aberration). They are also over reliant on tinned tomatoes (which I hate).

I don't need recipes for things like veggie chillis, and my version is better than his anyway! There is hardly anything I want to cook from it, and the things that I have cooked have been pretty bad - the chard and potato curry was so nasty that even dp (who eats anything) wouldn't eat it.

And I really don't need a recipe for cheese on toast or egg on toast.

[Trazzletoes]

I like Jamie Oliver's rogan josh in 30 min meals - basically cauliflower and squash curry. I like the HFW book too.

[OldBeanbagz]

We started at the beginning of last year with 'Meat Free Mondays' and ended up with my DD deciding to be a full-time vegetarian!

Our all time favourite veggie meal is probably chilli with wedges (and loads of sour cream in the case of my DS).

I cook things like vegetable lasagne, gardeners pie, thai stir fried vegetable, pasta bake, dhal & rice, mushroom stroganoff. I often use Rose Elliot's 30 Minute Vegetarian.

The other day we had butternut squash & coconut curry with rice which went down well with both DC. I also added some chickpeas as i though the meal could probably do with a little protein in it.

[Drladybird]

Recipe Favs:
This Lentil Lasagne is an all time winner and appropriate as we enter the cooler months.
I love any type of bean stew and my current favourite is this butter bean, olive and cherry tomato version

Books: I'm also a fan of HFW Veg Everyday. There was a recent thread on this book- trying out the recipes and reporting back.

Delia's vegetarian collection is also nice.

I also like some veggie magazines like Vegetarian Living and the BBC Good Food tend to do a nice one at Xmas.

Also: the vegetarian society are a good source of links to blogs, recipes and other stuff.

[BigW]

We very rarely eat meat. Chicken once or twice a week and red meat probably only once a month or so. Here are some of our faves:

Sweet potato and chili soup
Veggie sausages and mash
Pasta bake
Veggie curry (sometimes use quorn chicken chunks)
Pasta with black olives, chili and tomato (add anchovies if you fancy cheating)

[SunnyL]

Huevos rancheros by Ainsley Harriet is gorgeous. Goey egg dipping with crusty bread is essential and makes life worth living. Mmmmmmm