Any vegetarians about able to give their opinion?

[SharkiraSharkira]

I'm trying to plan a menu that includes some veggie options for a christmas meal and really need some help as most of the time the options for veggies/vegans are some kind of nut roast, maybe mushroom risotto and that's about it!

In order to try something more interesting, I've come up with a few ideas - would any veggies/vegans out there be happy with these?

To start:
Cheese straws with red pepper dip (could be made cheese-less or with vegan cheese for vegans)
Rosemary, olive and goats cheese bruschetta (can be made with tomato instead of cheese for vegans)
Mushroom and tarragon pate (vegan)

Mains:
Veggie wellington (can be made vegan)
Squash, spinach and chickpea filo pie (vegan)
Butternut and sweet potato dauphinois (could be made with vegan cheese, or cheese less for vegans?)

Desserts:
Mincemeat crumble pies (mini ones with veggie pastry)
Lemon, prosecco and elderflower sorbet

Any thoughts?

[Pestilentialone]

Brussel sprouts fried with shallots and chestnuts.

[Nemesia]

Sounds amazing! I make cheese straws with jus rol puff pastry and violife cheese (block can be grated). My staunchly non- vegan mil scoffed loads of them!
Also if you need a single cream alternative then oatly cream is amazing. Alpro single cream is also good but isnt so good for savoury dishes.

[MarklahMarklah]

Sounds lovely. If you grind up some cashews, make a roux, and add some nutritional yeast you can fake a cheese sauce.
I am veggie but lactose intolerant so pretty much vegan.

Haven't RTFT (apolgoies, but had a very busy day), but if you're after a decent 'cheese' to put in for vegans the Follow Your Heart cheese style shreds are good. Chuck a pinch or two of nutritional yeast in too for added oomph.

[AtleastitsnotMonday]

I've done 'not cheese' straws made with caramelised onion chutney before and they were delicious, if looking for a non cheese straw.
Menu looks fab, if I were to critique anything I'd look at maybe trading a couple of pastry options, maybe look at swapping the filo on your main for a rosti crust.

[nooka]

I had vegetarian relatives to stay for a few days last Christmas and had fun planning several vegetarian meals. Some of the things I made were really delicious, although none of them would have been good for diets! That's true for meaty celebratory meals too though.

For our Christmas meal I made a morrocan chickpea, dried fruit and nut filo pie from the BBC food site here and then I made all our usual sides which are all vegetarian anyway, with a meat stuffing side for the meat eaters (though I'd have the centre pie vegetarian rather than giving the veggies an alternative). It was delicious. I didn't do starters because I don't do starters with a roast as no one has room (just crisps and nuts type appetisers earlier). We had a chocolate and orange roulade for desert and christmas pudding.

Your menu sounds delicious OP but if you are doing non vegetarian alternatives for each course too then that's a hell of a lot of cooking, and could be stressful especially if you've not made the vegetarian/vegan options before. I'd simplify if you can or at least make sure as many things can be prepared as possible

[SharkiraSharkira]

Thanks very much for all the suggestions, really useful!

I'm actually a chef and am trying to write a Christmas menu for the restaurant I work in so I will have non veggie options available also, just trying to make sure there are some decent veggie ones too!

I was planning to have a pastry and non pastry option ideally as I'm not a huge fan of it myself.

Glad to hear that most of you like my ideas so far

[OnyK]

Long term veggie here.
I would enjoy any/all of those options. Most veggies also like all the usual Christmas dinner trimmings, such as roast spuds, veggie gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce etc, rather than a quinoa and pumpkin seed salad!

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

It all sounds good to me (although I eat meat), but I agree that it's nice if it can be served with the 'normal' trimmings.

Out of interest, what would you put in your Wellington please?

My Christmas vegetarian this year doesn't eat mushrooms so my cheese choux pastry filled with Madeira mushrooms is going to have to be re-worked or retired!

[Orangeplastic]

I used to be veggie - I wouldn't like any of the starters - suggest something like a twice baked souffle for starters, I'd avoid a bloomed goat's cheese for the bruschetta as it's often another veggie cliche - unless you use a very fresh a 'lemon mousse style' goat's cheese.
Impressed with your determination to please the veggies! We used to choose restaurants on the veggie choices alone - if they looked after the vegetarians properly the rest of the guests usually had absolutely amazing food - it was a quality signal for us.

[TheseAreTheDays]

Also if you do decide on a nut roast (which I personally love,but possibly there's more of a glut of nut roasts in the UK than here,where it's still usually stir fry or tortellini) I love this recipe www.amuse-your-bouche.com/cheesy-carrot-nut-roast/

I haven't quite figured out how to keep it from being all dried out the next day,maybe some veggie gravy would help. Anyway I love it.

[CatsOclock]

Long-term veggie here.

I would check that the bread, cheese, mincemeat and prosecco is veggie. (A lot of alcohol isn't.)

I'm a bit unclear - is this one meal or several?

Are you doing any sauces, eg gravy, soya cream? Could be quite dry otherwise.

[Floellabumbags]

My Christmas vegetarian this year doesn't eat mushrooms so my cheese choux pastry filled with Madeira mushrooms is going to have to be re-worked or retired!

How about a ratatouille filling? I'm the awkward vegetarian who doesn't eat pasta, mushrooms, meat substitutes or goats cheese.

[SparkwoodAnd21]

TheseAre I always do this nut roast, or a version of it. The cabbage leaves keep it moist and it's actually better the next day because it holds together that bit better.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2011/dec/15/how-cook-perfect-nut-roast

[Weedsnseeds1]

I made a "faux gras" as the veggie starter last year. Very tasty
www.davidlebovitz.com/faux-gras-foie-gras-vegetarian-lentil-mushroom-pate-recipe/