Christmas (sorry) lunch ideas needed for a vegetarian with not a nut roast in sight!! My cooking is dreadful...

[BlueBumedFly]

Hi

I am a rubbish cook. My Husband is a vegetarian but does eat all dairy. I need a good christmas day idea please..... help!

No nut roasts as I have a nut allergic child and he hates parsnips and celery.

I find the shop bought ones a bit wishy washy with no really filling, need something with a bit of substance that I can make in advance and take to my Mums.

So, not much to ask... any ideas anyone?

just do regular xmas dinner (sprouts, roast and mash spuds, carrotts etc, make yorkshire puddings, then use veggie gravy and quorn pieces???

Regular Christmas dinner stuff like potatoes on the side of Macaroni Cheese (my dh has had this for Christmas Day for 20 years as it's his favourite)

good ideas on both the qorn pieces and mac cheese, I wonder if I could make a nice thick veggie sauce for the qorn? Many thnks

All the usual veg and then large stuffed mushrooms: Take one of those huge porrtobello mushrooms, pull the stork out and stuff with whatever you fancy (finely diced onion & cheddar with bit of seasoning is v.v. easy and very tasty, or stilton and walnuts, or tomato sauce with mozarella on top....) wrap in tinfoil and pop in the oven with the rest of the veg for a bit.

I did do a terrine from Delia's veggie selection one year. Looked pretty but a bit of a faff. The advantage was that it could be done well in advance.

Macaroni cheese sounds like a good idea actually. I've actually got one I made earlier in the freezer. Looks like I can put my feet up on Christmas day .

there is or used to be a quorn roast, if you like that sort of thing.
what about a mushroom/garlic pate thing in puff pastry, or rolled up in filo pastry?

Just remembered what I did last year - winter veg roasted with rosemary and garlic in a puff pastry case (kind of like a large vol-au-vent case)

I actually did a cranberry flan type thing one year. Was v. proud of it as it looked so pretty, but no-one liked it (I don't think they actually like cranberries - or at least that is what I'm telling myself)

Filo is of course much less fattening than puff, so good idea to use that.

LuLU - that sounds lovely. Could you please give me some more details on how you made it?

I must admit, I usually just have all the bits and bobs other than the turkey and don't bother replacing the turkey with anything. I just have the stuffing, roast vege, honeyed carrots, leeks in white sauce etc instead.

You could do wild rice and potato cakes, lovely fried up with garlicky mushrooms. Will email recipe if you like x

We generally do a mushroom & tomato bake - I think a delia recipe originally. Has lots of melted cheese on top and is yummy.

I can't really remember, I think I slowly cooked the cranberries with some sugar, seasonings and booze (port or sherry I think). The base was puff pastry but what I can't remember was whether I put any brie in or whether I created an eggy flan type base for the cranberries.

Sorry not to have more of an idea. It was so unpopular that I didn't keep any record of it. The only lasting memory is how hated it was! My mother took one (small) mouthfull and actually refused to eat any more!

Sorry; not the cranberry one - the roasted winter vege one: don't like cranberries!

oooo now I am super hungry and I am not even the vegetarian. Thank you so much! Such a load of fab ideas.... i will be the queen of the kitchen this year for sure.

Trebuchet - would love the recipe, yes please, my email is mellie and min at aol dot com - many thanks

Will go and dig out my Delia book too, I really want to do a pie or puff of some sort now, then DH can add all the other trimmings and won't feel left out.

All I have to do now is remind Mother not to cook the roast potatos in flippin goose fat!!!

LuLuBai - I am sure it was lovely, I would have eaten it, I love brie and cranberries.

Mad - also like the idea of the mushroom pate, a bit like beef wellington but with a quorn and veggie mix perhaps in a puff pastry.

Goodness me, DH away all weekend so might have to have a practice!

Thanks guys, really appreciate you all posting xx

Ah - that was more popular! Took a load of winter veg (parsnips, potatos, carrots etc etc - whatever you fancy really - I think I added a few mediterranean veg too - red peppers etc) and roasted them with lots of garlic cloves (whole in their skins) and plenty of sprigs of fresh rosemary, salt pepper.

For the pastry cases: cut puff pastry (buy it - I made it once and way too much faff!)into squares - one per person.

Then take each square and score a line all the way around about 1.5 cm inside the edge, parallel with the edge. Brush the edge with milk or egg white. Pop the pastry cases in a hottish (180) oven for about 15 mins or until the cases have risen. When you take them out, push the central square (inside the scored line) down. This forms the base. Then fill up the cases with your roasted veg.

I have a feeling I tossed some cubes of feta cheese through the veg before piling it into the pastry cases - I am a bit cheese obsessed, but prob not necessary. Garnish with a sprig of parsley if you fancy...

That sounds delicious - thank you. DD1 is veggie and adores root vege, so I may well give those a go. She doesn't "do" cheese though, so I'll leave that out for hers and maybe put a few cannelini beans or some tofu in for protein.

LuLuBai - that sounds sooooo nice! I am going to try that to see if I can get it to rise etc before I commit to a crowd.

... now I want macaroni cheese.... looking through the Delia book and it looks like she does a really confusing lovely recipe!

If you're a rubbish cook, you could get him a vegetarian higgidy pie. They are tasty and would go with Christmas veg. But how sad to do without nut roast on Christmas Day .

bleeeurgh - no offence but I've been veggie all my life and I really can't handle nut roast. Cooked nuts are just too rich for me.

Good idea on the canellini beans janeite. I chuck chick peas into loads of things for the same reason.

Glad I am not the only one who struggles with Delia BlueFlumedFly. Don't find her simple at all. I get into a rage whenever I try to followe her recipes (maybe it's cos I don't read them through properly first or something).

Bet there are loads of good macaroni cheese recipes on the internet. I recommend using very good quality strong cheddar and adding plenty of English mustard to the cheese sauce. I also like to add extra veg to make it a bit more nutritous (especially keen on mac cheese with leeks and mushroom at the moment)

I saw someone doing risotto balls on tv the other day. They looked really good and might work with the Christmas trimmings. Think it was on the BBC so could check their website.

ThingOne - I love those pies!! What a cracking idea, they actually have some substance too. Has anyone noticed that have shrunk the Linda McCartney pies? They are tiny now!

LuLuBai - we cannot have nut roast anyway as DD2 is allergic. I cannot say it really appeals though. I am dead set on having mac cheese now, the added mushrooms and English mustard will really add a nice twist, will let you know how I get on!

I tried to do Risotto balls when I first met DH, trying to impress him with my vegetarian culinary expertise.... I failed miserably and we got take away pizza.

Mushroom selection cooked in loads of butter & garlic plus all the usual xmas veggies and bread sauce & stuffing - yum!

haha - I've never tried risotto balls myself. They do look impressive. But I guess stuff that looks impressive is generally not that easy.