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anyone got any nice vegetarian one pot recipes?

102 replies

UsuallyHateNameChangers · 26/09/2014 17:53

My SIL is due any day and when we go and visit her I'd like to take her some home cooked food. When I've done this for other friends I usually do a lasagne or shepherds pie type thing but she's a veggie and hates mushrooms and i'm a bit stuck. Am very much a meat eater myself.

Anyone got any nice properly vegetarian easy to cook recipes they'd like to share?

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CountYourEyelashes · 28/09/2014 18:45

I too need this thread on Watch!

I'm currently making one of my fave one pot veggie things:

Quorn Sausage Casserole

Quorn sausages
Red Onion
Potatoes
Carrots
Any other root veg you fancy - today I'm using Parsnips & Sweet Potato
Celery
Tin of Tomatoes
Veg stock
Dash of Red wine vinegar (this was an experiment, I'll let you know how it turns out!)
Squirt of Tomato puree (also today's experiment)

Chop up the potatoes & veg into a casserole dish in large-ish chunks

Fry the onions for a few mins, then add the sausages cut into 1-inch chunks and fry until browned. Add a squirt of tomato puree and a good load of black pepper just for fun.

Chuck everything into the casserole dish & put lid on

Blast in the oven at 180 for 1-1.5 hours.

Then - this is the crucial bit - leave in the oven for as long as possible. The longer it stews in its own juices the better. Several hours if possible.

Serve with crusty bread.

It's even better heated up the next day, so your friend should love it!

Mine is currently finishing off its oven blast, so should be ready after stewing for about another hour... if I can wait that long!

CountYourEyelashes · 28/09/2014 18:56

P.s. who cares if your SIL is a fish eater who calls herself veggie, or whatever. I presume she just uses it as an easy label to save having to say "I don't eat meat but I do eat fish" all the time.

I'm a 'don't eat meat or fish but don't worry about rennet in cheese, and sometimes eat gelatin for an easy life, and turn a blind eye to the fish sauce in thai curry, and recently discovered I'm wheat intolerant but can't resist the odd cake even if it does give me the shits'.

However, given that this takes time to say, and I really don't need to explain my dietary preferences to anyone I just tell people I'm Veggie and Gluten Free. It's just a label people, and how you interpret it is 100% your own free choice.

Galena · 28/09/2014 18:58

Bear in mind that after 90 days this thread will be deleted, so if you want to save the thread and keep the recipes, someone needs to ask for it to be shifted to a different board.

CountYourEyelashes · 28/09/2014 19:04

Good point Galena

I've been copying and pasting the nice looking recipes into my Evernote 'meal ideas' list to transfer onto my Weekly meal planner as needed

googietheegg · 28/09/2014 19:39

Love the sound of Chickpea Thing. Does it really need the olives? Seems a bit incongruous but maybe it's the magic ingredient ;-)

UsuallyHateNameChangers · 28/09/2014 19:45

count- yes I think that's what it's about with SIL, I was a bit Hmm about some of the earlier snippy comments but what can you do, you can't please 'em all!

Either way SIL is in for a right treat when the baby arrives! She is in labour now actually so i better get my shopping list in order....

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fatlazymummy · 28/09/2014 19:59

My 2 favourites -
Lentil and veg curry - red lentils, onions ,carrots, spinach (I use frozen) and sweet potatoes. I have this on it's own without rice.
Lentil stew - red lentils, onion, leeks ,carrots, parsnips, swede and some tinned tomatoes. I use cumin and smoky paprika and a bit of Marmite to flavour it (I never use stock cubes). Serve with some nice crusty bread.

SuburbanRhonda · 28/09/2014 20:00

At the risk of being called arsey, just a few points:

If she eats fish, she probably won't be bothered by rennet in cheese.

Thai red curry paste has fish in it - ok for your SIL, but one to avoid if you're vegetarian.

And actually it does matter if people mess around with the terms. I don't understand why anyone would need to label themself a vegetarian when they're not one. Someone who eats fish but not meat is more a meat-eater than a vegetarian. Pescavore is ok, but why not just say you don't eat meat? The problem with people appropriating the term vegetarian is that people start to think all vegetarians eat fish, or should do.

SuburbanRhonda · 28/09/2014 20:02

That's shop-bought Thai red curry paste. Safer to make your own Smile

ElphabaTheGreen · 28/09/2014 20:08

SuburbanRhonda Tesco has two own-brand red Thai curry pastes, both fish-free and vegetarian/vegan. Their green Thai curry paste is the same.

LeBearPolar · 28/09/2014 20:12

What SuburbanRhonda said. I don't eat red meat but I don't call myself a vegetarian Confused I say that I don't eat red meat. How lazy do you have to be to say that you don't eat any meat except fish?!

fatlazymummy · 28/09/2014 20:12

I'm one of those annoying people who is mainly vegetarian but eats the odd bit of fish. I eat 1 meal of oily fish /week on medical advice, my other 20 meals are vegetarian. I mainly refer to myself as vegetarian because most people aren't that interested in all the minor details of my dietary choices. In any case, I don't eat in other people's houses, so it doesn't effect anyone else.
I don't eat meat for taste reasons, so I don't care if cheese is vegetarian or not. On the other hand I don't eat quorn or pretend meat, because it tastes like meat.
Vegetarians are individuals so it's best just to ask them if you're cooking for them.

ElphabaTheGreen · 28/09/2014 20:13

Countyoureyelashes Do the Quorn sausages not go mushy being cooked for so long like that? I've tried cooking Quorn or Cauldron sausages for lengthy periods in stews before and they go peculiar...

HicDraconis · 28/09/2014 20:15

Spinach, chickpea and kumara curry (can substitute sweet potato if you can't get kumara)

Large onion, chop into 1cm squares (roughly). Fry in a couple of tablespoons of oil with an inch of grated ginger, 2 chopped / grated / crushed garlic cloves, 3 teaspoons curry powder (can make your own or use bought), 3-4 teaspoons cumin.

When onion translucent add to slow cooker with 2 cans drained chickpeas, one tin chopped tomatoes, 400g chopped kumara / sweet potato, and some of the chickpea brine (just under as much as is in one can). Stir it all in and cook on low for 6h.

2 bunches of spinach roughly chopped 30mins before the end, or 4-500g baby spinach 5mibs before the end.

Serve with naan bread.

Spinach & 3 cheese cannelloni
Fry a chopped clove of garlic in some olive oil in a shallow pan, add a teaspoon of sugar (optional) and good glug white wine vinegar, stir a few seconds then add 2 tins chopped tomatoes and simmer for 20 mins to reduce.

500g spinach in colander, pour over a kettle of boiling water to wilt, rinse in cold and squeeze thoroughly in tea towel.
Pulse in food processor then add 2 tubs ricotta, 50g grated Parmesan and a good grating of fresh nutmeg. Pulse to mix thoroughly.
Use a piping bag to fill cannelloni with spinach & cheese mix, lay in oven dish (I use a lasagne dish) as a flat layer.
Pour over tomato sauce, top with more Parmesan and lots of mozzarella.
Bake at 180-200 for 30-45mins, serve with green salad.

SuburbanRhonda · 28/09/2014 21:55

Thanks for that, elphaba, through at the risk of sounding up myself, I can't imagine Tesco sauces tasting very authentic.

I've made my own paste for a Thai green curry and it was fab Smile

UsuallyHateNameChangers · 28/09/2014 22:04

Wow, this thread has opened a can of worms! I can't say I've ever given much thought to the various permutations of so-called vegetarianism but I 100% would always check with someone I was cooking for if they ate x or y. But that is the same for meat eaters. I guess it's just good manners of you're cooking for someone to try to make it enjoyable for them!

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JudysPriest · 28/09/2014 22:08

Do vegetarians eat worms, canned or otherwise?

AndIFeedEmGunpowder · 28/09/2014 22:11

Hungry marking of place.

UsuallyHateNameChangers · 28/09/2014 22:23

Grin judys

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Familyguyfan · 28/09/2014 22:28

These all look delicious so I'm marking my place.

SuburbanRhonda · 28/09/2014 22:31

What's "so-called vegetarianism", OP?

CountYourEyelashes · 28/09/2014 23:06

Elphaba - yes the Quorn sausages do go a bit mushy. They'd probably fare better if I'd fried them a bit more. But I don't really mind them like that.

Had my casserole tonight, looking forward to leftovers tomorrow when it will be even better. It's yum, and very easy.

agoodbook · 28/09/2014 23:12

I make roasted vegetables a lot which can the be used as a side dish or on cous cous/rice/pasta . I fry red onions in olive oil in a roasting pan on the hob, add large chunked courgettes and again, fry but not too long as they will go mushy- add finely chopped garlic / basil and lastly roughly chopped tomatoes(I dont skin them) salt and pepper, a bit more olive oil to coat nicely, and then roast in oven for half an hour at about 200 .I cook loads all at the same time ( I have gluts of stuff from my allotment!) and just bag it up to use whenever. . But I can then add tinned flageolet/chickpeas/ beans or frozen peas/ sweetcorn / fresh spinach- I like it best with pasta.
If she can eat cheese then macaroni cheese! Easy peasy version is cook macaroni in the milk, season . add cheese! tastes great x

UnicornsAreMerelyExtinct · 28/09/2014 23:27

So pleased you like chickpea thing too judys I love it a lot Grin

UsuallyHateNameChangers · 29/09/2014 02:40

AGoodbook- that macaroni cheese recipe is genius, I have a dc who just started school and have been trying t to come up with easy quick dinner ideas for him when he gets in.

Suburban - I'm referring to the fact that, as well as 'proper' vegetarians, there are those who call themselves vegetarians, who technically aren't (which I don't have a problem with btw- though some people do)

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