ideas for vegetarian dinner party

[soupdragon321]

Hi, we have friends coming for dinner on Saturday and neither DH or I are great cooks! (tho we are great hosts!) The meal needs to be vegetarian (but no mushrooms as one of the guests doesn't eat them). Can anyone recommend a good looking but easy to cook three course meal that's vegetarian and does not require us to have to fork out a fortune on expensive ingredients? What's your go to classy vegetarian dish?
thanks in advance!

Soup is an easy starter (vegetable, obvs), and puddings are veggie anyway, so you only have to worry about the main course. You could do a Greek-style strudel with (bought) filo pastry, spinach and feta?

Starter ideas:

Warm autumnal salad (e.g. www.theroastedroot.net/shaved-brussel-sprout-salad-roasted-butternut-squash/) it's just roasting, sauteeing and assembly, no difficult cooking.

Savoury tarte tatin with shallots/onions (e.g. www.deliciousmagazine.co.uk/recipes/roasted-onion-tarte-tatin/)

I make this tons, delicious for starter or main: www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/butternut-squash-recipes/vegan-m-hanncha/

Miso glazed aubergines over rice with an asian slaw?

What are you good at? I'd take what you know and adapt it to meat free. So if you make a mean chicken curry, switch out the meat for cauliflower and chickpeas, keeping your usual sides. Don't think you have to make it Uber fancy, if you aren't confident cooks you may find it less stressful just to go for good quality homemade food. I'm sure your friends will just be grateful that you have catered for them.

Do you need three courses? I tend to go with nibbles with a drink before then go straight to the main. With dinner parties, make ahead dishes are a big advantage, if that's not possible prep as much ahead as possible.

I served this Hasselback Halloumi traybake at the weekend, really easy and went down a storm.

Thank you for your ideas so far. DH doesn't eat halloumi (which is a pain as I love it!) - will have a look at the others 🙂

Harissa humous with warm flatbreads and crudités
Tagine and couscous
Dark chocolate, nougat and pistachio semifreddo

Or

Goat’s cheese tarts
Stuffed butternut
Baked apples

Are all your guests vegetarian? I ask because serve-yourself style things can work well and offer choices - eg fajitas where you have an onion/pepper mix, some steak/chicken and some halloumi with all the sides, and everyone then takes the combination that works for them.

Otherwise, I think vegetable curries are always a nice choice. Or a vegetarian tart of some sort. You can go super fancy (eg one of those upside down caramelised onion type jobs) or fairly basic (puff pastry, goats cheese, vegetarian pesto...) - whatever you feel is appropriate, served with a good salad on the side.

Agree that I probably wouldn't do a first course but rather just nibbles and snacks.

I find a starter that can be prepared in advance, less hassle than nibbles, unless it's just crisps and nuts, a cold starter that can be made in advance or a pan of soup that just needs heating up is easier for me.

Assuming no vegans, I would do a veggie starter for everyone, a seasonal soup like pumpkin with bread.

For the main course I do side dishes that are ok for everyone and then separate main elements, which is how I cook for my family every day.

I've done a beef wellington and a mushroom Wellington before, same pastry, same mushroom mixture, then cheese in the middle for the veggies instead of beef (individual versions) Everyone has the same side dishes.

It's important to check if vegetarian guests have any particular dislikes, so you don't stuff a pepper for someone who can't stand peppers (please don't stuff a pepper).

Tesco recipes and bbc good food sites have loads of great vegetarian recipes.

Anna Jones recipes might give you some inspiration. She cooks both vegitarian and vegan. Or you could look at some Indian vegitarian recipes, full of flavour.

Spanakopita is sooo easy but looks impressive! Is my normal go-to

Did you catch Jamie Oliver £1 meals the other night?.
None are £1 a portion based on the supermarket in my area but never mind... the ideas are good!
Anyway he did a sweet potato/chickpea/spinach curry thing in the microwave and it not only looked really good, it was really quick..
I am having it this weekend...