Vegan recipes for summer lunch/bbq

[roamingcat]

Hi all,

In a couple of weeks we're hosting a group of friends for a summer bbq/lunch (depending upon the weather) and one of them is vegan. My plan to make things easier would be to try and have the majority of things be vegan and then cook some sausages & chicken skewers as an accompaniment for the meat eaters, with possibly falafel as the equivalent for the vegan. I wasn't going to do any fake meat as I don't think the vegan actually likes them! Hoping for a big spread of lots of different things so people can just pick and choose (thinking crisps, breadsticks, dips, then lots of different "mains").

So I would be grateful for any lovely vegan recipes you can share - thinking salads, pasta salads, cous cous, roasted veggies etc which should go down well with everyone. I also need to do a pudding of some sort so grateful for any vegan desert recipes too - I'm a baker so happy to make something from scratch.

I'm a meat eater but really enjoy lots of 'naturally vegan' dishes.
I'd go with the approach you're thinking - ie lots of salads that are suitable for all and then some meat and plant based protein.

I had marinated tempeh skewers at a vegan friend's barbecue and really enjoyed it, much more than tofu.

A couple of my favourite salads:
watermelon and feta
butternut squash and chickpea salad (although maybe too many chickpea dishes if you go with falafel)
roasted veg salad - serve the feta separately though.

You probably know that if you are barbecuing you will need to cook the vegan food separately. We have a separate small barbecue which we keep for meat free stuff, but you could use your grill / oven / disposable BBQ.

Re dessert, Stork in the block (not the tub) is vegan. Flora also does a vegan block but Stork is cheaper. I'd do something like a lemon drizzle cake, a bowl of mixed berries and Swedish glacé dairy free ice cream

Corn ribs

Vegetable kebabs

Big portobello mushrooms

Jacket potato

Thanks for the suggestions so far! We have two bbq's so were planning on using the second for the vegan bits. However, we've just found out the vegan is actually veggie so that makes things a little bit easier - if anyone has any great veggie recipes then please add them :)

Look on instagram...lots of inspiration. I really like green goddess salad..lots of variation. Chop lots of cabbage, kale, courgette
..anything really and add the green goddess sauce (blended avocado's, spinach, herbs, tofu and or beans, nutritional yeast for cheese flavour...)

Ottolenghi style salads....beetroot looks great

amp.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/aug/07/beetroot-avocado-salad-recipe-ottolenghi

We are loving BBQ aubergine slices in a salad currently. Cut the aubergines into rounds or slices - a good 1cm thick you want them thin enough to chargrill but thick enough to get a nice soft bit. Brush with oil and grill on BBQ.

The dressing is just olive oil, sherry vinegar, mixed with frsh chopped garlic and chilli (to.taste) and a bit of salt. Put the grilled and soft aubergine in a shallow wide bowl, toss in the dressing them sprinkle with some chopped mint and feta or mozzarella. Delicious.

You can also chargrill asparagus and then drizzle with whatever sauce you like.

Veggie skewers can a nice way to roast veg on the bbq. I like tomatoes, peppers, onion and courgette. Marinate with some olive oil with some lemon and thyme. I see lots of people.doing these with halloumi too.

Forget falafel it's only good when it's freshly fried and the shop bought ones are horrific.
I would make a large Fattoush salad, the Ottolenghi cauliflower tabbouleh is amazing, and I'd do a simple tomato and onion salad with fresh oregano.

Aldi vegan potato salad, delicious.
Falafel is very dry, I’ve had it once in a restaurant served warm (which was nice). Jacket pot, cheese, bean salad, veggie chilli, dips, Doritos. Veggie skewer, veggie beyond burger topped with fried chopped onion, chillis, mushrooms, garlic bread, pizzas.

There is an excellent pistachio pasta salad recipe in the new Sabrina Ghayour Flavours cookbook. I'm sure the recipe must be online somewhere. It uses parmesan so that would need to be a veggie version if your guest doesn't eat cheese with rennet.

I've taken it to multiple BBQs recently and people have raved about it. Only take 10 minutes or so to put together and is very simple.

Korean coleslaw - done this previously and got asked for the recipe by loads of people Inc non veggies - lots of versions online)
Pulled Aubergine (can either go in buns on its own or with other things)
Asdas own brand puff pastry is vegan so you can do a whole pile of nibbles using them (not sure about other brands)
Salads generally.
Mushroom burgers.

Seriously though looks for Asian (Korean particularly recipes) as they are quite often vegan.