Need a vegetarian meal for Saturday night please! Help, I usually cook meat!

[Gobbledigook]

Got MIL and 'friend' coming

Friend is vegetarian and I don't know what to cook for an evening meal. I'm thinking a really nice pasta bake or something (apparently he loves pasta and so do I - so bonus!)

Everything I can think of has ham or mince or chicken in it! I could cobble it together - make it up - but would rather have a yummy, tried and tested recipe if anyone has one?

Do vegetarian lasagne with aubergines, red onions etc. and a dark green salad.

You can use Quorn mince instead of meat in a spag bol, cottage pie, lasagne etc

ratatouille with pasta and lots of grated cheese is good.

Or there is a fab Delia recipe for veggie shepherd's pie with lentils and split peas. Not pasta tho.

Veggie Pizza, tomato-y pasta, salad & garlic bread? bit of a buffet thing I suppose.

risotto - I have a fantastic asparagus and baby courgette recepie, can post if you want

Pasta with lots of mushrooms stir fried with onion, garlic, parsley and white wine, well seasonned with peper and a dash of single cream.

Crespelli is nice - fill pancakes with a spinach/onion/garlic/herb/mushroom and ricotta mix - then pour over some cheese sauce and sprinkle with focaccia breadcrumbs mixed with a bit of oil and bake for 20 minutes - serve with salad.

To make the filling:
fry some onions and garlic together and add some mushrooms finely sliced when that is done add the spinach until it has wilted mix in the ricotta and grate a bit of nutmeg in and a squeeze of lemon juice. Fill the pancakes and fold, lay them in a greased dish and pour over the cheese sauce, sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top and another grate of cheese and bake.

just do big bowl of spag bol or lasagne but use quorn.anything you fancy with mince or chicken in can be replaced with quorn.

Pommes dauphinoise is nice, very easy, and something you get less than pasta: there are loads of recipes out there, and I'd personally make it quite garlicky. Have it with salad. And a nice pudding.

i had this dilemma recently and ended up making vegetable fajitas, salsa, guacamole, nachos etx..which was yummy and lots of fun!

Easy veggie pasta bake :

2 x 300g packs filled veggie tortelloni (all s'markets have them, garlic & herb or wild mushroom usually the nicest).
1 x 400g tub pasta tomato sauce (eg Neopolitana)
1 x 400g pot 4 cheese sauce
Grated cheese & breadcrumbs for top.

In a greased oven dish (lasagne size), put 1 layer of pasta on the bottom. Cover with 1 layer of cheese sauce, then 1 layer of tomato sauce(about 1/2 tub or less of each). Top with another layer of pasta. Pour over rest of cheese sauce. Top with grated cheese/breadcrumb mix.

Put in oven for 30-40mins, 200c. Serve with salad & garlic bread (if you like!).

Dead easy, and my DH who is meat & 2 veg man, loves it. Not the healthiest meal maybe, but vv yummy.

Or buy a Linda McCartney lasagne

okay, olive's vege lasagne:

roast peppers, courgettes and red onions, with lots of garlic and dried chilli flakes for 40 mins in 200 degree oven (2 pep, 2 courgettes, 2 onions or so)

put third of tin of toms in lasagne tray then (fresh) lasagne layer then half roast veg half pack of crumbled feta, handful of torn basil

repeat

last third tin of toms, then lasagne, then tub of creme fraiche splodged over top sprinkle with parmesan cheese and put in oven for about 30 mins or so

add parma ham to roast veg if you want a change

you can prepare lasagne in advance and loll about looking relaxed and then just pop it in the oven when they arrive

24 in advance is ok

My favourite vegetarian dinner party dish is as follows:

Halve a variety of peppers, through the stalk so they keeps their shape (allow about 2/3 halves per person). Arrange in a large, deep roasting pan. Chuck in big chunks of red onion, halved mushrooms, chunks of courgette and black olives (I've also used tomatoes - fresh, or sun dried). Throw in some whole cloves of garlic. Drizzle over lots of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Fresh basil, torn up, if you have it. Roast in oven at about 200 degrees for 40 mins - an hour (til peppers are tender and starting to go brown at the edges). Just before you're ready to serve up, slice halloumi cheese (allow a packet per 2 people) into thick slices and fry in olive oil (preferably in a griddle pan - it gets nice little lines on it then).

Serve with ciabatta (for mopping up the lovely juices) and salad.

it is yummy.

So, what did you go with in the end? how'd it go??