Meat free dinner suggestions please

[TheBuggerofSuburbia]

I would like to cut down on the amount of meat we eat - we have meat almost every evening for dinner, with fish maybe once or twice a week. We rarely eat all veggie, but I'd like to start by introducing a couple of veggie meals a week.

However - DP doesn't like rice very much, won't eat risotto, and isn't a huge pasta fan - it's ok maybe once a fortnight. We both love fish, but it's not always easy to get it fresh during the week (I work ft, and don't always have time to go shopping).

What's your best veggie and meat free meals?

we want to eat less meat too, so watching with interest.

Home made pizza? You could do the dough the day before and leave it in the fridge if time is short (or do it at the weekend).

Veggie curries also good - potatoes, chick peas, aubergines, spinach anything really, but they are my favourites, and you can eat with naan bread if you don't like rice.

Pizza Marguerita

Pasta (sorry its not popular in your household - its such an easy meat-free option)

Baked Spuds

Souffle + veg

Macaroni Cheese

Veg soup + pudding

Veg curry and nan breads

If you want to eat less meat, buy half the amount and pad it out with veg/beans etc!

You say DP not a big pasta fan - has he tried gnocchi? Often find people who don't like pasta like gnocchi. Gorgeous with creme fraiche spinach and parmesan or a tomato based sauce.

Also agree with meltedmarsbars, casseroles or chunky soups are great if you want to up the veggies and lower the meat in a less obvious way.

My DD (3) came home from pre school today with a delicious veggie chilli she had made....

We do home made pizza and dough balls here every week, I make a big batch and freeze it. Make the tomato sauce for pizza by just reducing a tin of chopped toms with a few whole cloves of garlic and a few tbsns olive oil. Fish out the garlic once reduced a bit then blitz. Keeps in an airtight container in fridge for a week. Makes a great sauce for the gnocchi too.

Kids have their own little pizzas then, with mozzarella, grated cheddar, basil leaves and the tomato sauce and DH adds all manner of oddities to his - chillies, anchovies, egg etc

Tinned pulses are the thing, a good basic veggie stew recipe:

1 chopped onoin
chopped garlic
assorted chopped veg (sweet potato, carrots, leeks, couple of spuds)

Fry it all up & then add

1 tin of chopped tomatoes
veg stock to cover and add mixed herbs or a bit of chilli if you like

Simmer for at least hlaf an hour and then add a tin of chick peas / kidney beans / butter beans

serve with rice / bakes potatoes / cous cous / crust bread

This is great as it doesn't take long to make, is really healthy and endlessly variable

We are vegetarian and I recently made a list of all our regular meals - will try to remember them:

Moroccan pumpkin and chickpea stew with couscous
Ribolita - a kind of Italian veg and bean stew, lovely with garlic bread
Baked potatoes with feta and olives, salad
Pommes anna or boulangere
Peppers piedmontese with sauteed potatoes
Veggie lasagne/shepherd's pie
A really amazing Madhur Jaffrey chilli recipe with avocado, salad, plain yoghurt, cheese, rice and wraps
Cheese (cheddar/feta) omelette with chips and salad
Curries, like dansak or there's a great recipe for potatoes in a Punjabi village-style from the Madhur Jaffrey World Vegetarian book.

That book is awesome, as is the Leith's Vegetarian Bible - have never made a duff meal from either book.

Celia Brooks Brown is one of my favourite vegetarian recipe writers - her dishes are always really interesting. Worth seeing if your library has any of her books?

Vegetarian chili - kidney beans, red peppers, onions, spicy sauce. Serve with sour cream, grated cheese and soft tortillas. So easy to cook, I make it all the time.

Spanish tortilla. You can throw in spinach, peas, any veg you like really. And maybe some fried chorizo, that hardly counts as meat

Potato skins - mix the flesh with cheese, veg, and put under the hot grill.

Salads of all descriptions. A large nicoise maybe?

Pancakes with a creamy mushroom filling, or rolled up with spinach and feta cheese and baked in a cheese sauce.

You can buy frozen veggie 'burgers' - some are made of beans, some are more like fish cakes i.e. potatoes and veg in breadcrumbs.

Vegetarian stir-fries - so he doesn't like rice, maybe noodles?

Grilled halloumi or feta cheese.

There are loads of options really, I'd buy a vegetarian cook book to get you started.

Thanks everyone. To be honest, I'm looking for some more 'luxurious' recipes if possible - I'd rather miss meat out completely at a couple of meals rather than pad it out with veggies and pulses IYSWIM.

Gnocchi could be worth a try - I've tried a few shop bought ones, and never liked them too much myself, maybe I'll try making my own. Anyone got a recommendation for good ready made ones or a recipe?

Padding meals out with more veg and pulses doesn't make them less luxurious!

Are your meals based around the traditional meat and two veg type thing? With potato?

You can make all sorts of cassseroles, stews and curries with no meat, vegetarian pies like shepherd's pie, quishes, tarts, pizzas, jacket potatos, souflee, spanish omelettes, moroccan tagines with couscous, stuffed vegetables, cauliflower cheese with roast potatoes, spinach pancakes with cheese sauce etc etc etc

You can't possibly think all the great suggestrions you've go tso far are not luxurious can you? There are so many varied suggestions, why are they not luxurious?

veggie burritos
spanish omelette with cous cous
big chunky fish, potato and saffron soup
parmigiana melanzane (aubergine layer bake thing) with dauphinoise potatoes
goats cheese tarts with homemade wedges

Overmydeadbody - sorry, I disagree that padding out with pulses especially changes the meal. I'm after some more interesting/special suggestions - so yes, MarthaFarquhar and BettyButterknife especially have hit the spot. Macaroni cheese and jacket spuds don't.

No our meals aren't based around traditional meat and two veg at all! I love cooking and we both love eating, so it's more gourmet veggie (and fish) suggestions I'm after!

Roast veggies with couscous, serve with baby salad leaves, goats cheese, maybe harissa. Fennel and sweet red peppers are really nice roasted.

Chunky soup - I do a Moroccan one with chickpeas, endamame beans, tomatoes, chilli and lemon and lots of fresh coriander.

Potato bakes - serve with salad. I do a spicy one with a spinach/coriander/cumin layer; and a Greek one, potatoes tomatoes and olive oil, cooked very slowly.

Spanokopita, with a Greek salad, and baked baby potatoes with garlic cloves

Fennel gougere - fennel with cream and parmesan and choux pastry.

Stroganof - I make it with courgettes, or you can use mushrooms, sauce as you would for a meaty version.

I would invest in a couple of recipe books, eg Leith's Vegetarian, and er.. get over the idea that vegetables aren't 'luxurious'

gnocchi recipe

haven't tried it but looks good. Jamie has some in his early books but don't seem to be online.

I buy the Waitrose ready made gnocchi

also these courgette cakes are wonderful - so much nicer than they sound.

Oh yes, Melanzane - gorgeous, I make that too.

One last thought.... do you like smoked fish? Obv it keeps longer so if you have issues buying fresh... I find smoked mackerel very luxurious. Mix a pack with a little creme fraiche, bit of creamed horseradish, lots of lemon zest and dill or parsley. Really nice with chicory.

My favourite cookbook is Sarah Raven's Garden cookbook. Its not all veggie but has some very good luxury stuff in as well as day to day. I've made about half the recipes in the book and in my humble opinion they are all great. She also suggests smoked eel with a citrus salad which I am going to try next weekend.

She has lots of Greek stuff too - saganaki a fave - the ref to spanokopita reminded me - with homemade flatbreads.

Cranks fast food is fab for some interesting ideas.

Fish pie! King tiger prawns and salmon - you can't beat it

Tuna Steak cubed marinaded in balsamic vinegar, edamame beans, broad beans, (good quality) noodles, bean sprouts, waterchestnuts ect ect stirfry with cumin seeds, pinch cinnamon, pinch chinese five spice - it's wierdly really flavoursome and yummy - and fun to eat with chopsticks

Baked potatoes with houmous (can be HM too but if I'm short on time and can't wash the blender I buy it) and quick HM guacamole - 2 avacadoes, juice half a lemon, yogurt a chilli (or chilli sauce) couple of tomatoes mash or blend together. Drizzle with chilli sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Have with or without salad.

Second the spanakopita mmmmm.

or a tart made with puff pastry, we make one with manchego cheese, roasted pepper and courgettes that have been dressed in balamic vinegar and olives - bake in the oven to cook the pastry

If you want to go all out you can't beat a good nut roast with stuffing (some people will shoot me on this one as some veggies think they are really awful) I don't have the recipie to hand but I have an amazing recipie for one made with almonds and lemon and thyme stuffing - some gravy, yorkshire puds, mash and veg and you'll wonder why you ever thought meat was an important part of a sunday roast.

A couple of further thoughts:

This is a lovely veggie cook book. There's another one too called 'Food from the Place Below', but I don't have that one.

Melanzane was mentioned - Nigella has a great recipe for this in 'Feast' I did it for NYE dinner for some vegetarian friends a few years ago and it went down very well. A bit of a fiddle to make but well worth it.

Nigel Slater's Appetite has quite a few variations on the puff pastry tart, but we often do this - dead easy if you buy the puff pastry ready rolled and very adaptable- we often do leek and mushroom, or onion and taleggio/gruyere/gorgonzola.