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OK STW, help me out.
Can you suggest some great vegetarian Christmas Dinner options?
For years my darling wife has insisted on the whole Delia Smith mammoth Christmas Turkey epic food fest, but this year I've persuaded her we could do something different.
I tried suggesting something that didn't involve killing animals that are at least as intelligent as the average voter, and she was very doubtful. It wouldn't be Christmas without at least one dead animal on the table.
A curry?
Ms. RM is a veggie and does a mean nut roast. It's a standard at Crimbo for her and her dad.
If you want a roast lunch but veggie you can bake a whole cauliflower head, Blanch it first, baste with butter and spices. Pop it in the oven. You can then make it a centre piece
Or just have a non trad christmas lunch
Or the real hairshirt option which I take - don't have a chrismas lunch at all - send the money you would spend on a christmas roast lunch to hunger charities
We normally have a bike ride followed by beans on toast with cheese.
This year we have gone vegan so cheese is out especially as vegan is mostly horrid.
Nut roast might work if you want sprouts and gravy and things.
I would step away from a substitution and go for a complete alternative that fits the occasion and the dietary conditions.
Ie a roast without a decent centrepiece isn't worth it, and i have yet to try something that isn't dissapointing i.e. a roast cauliflower ( it is delicious but **** me its portion of veg)
So i put forward.
Vegan bao buns*.
The buns are an absolute piece of piss to make, everyone can help.
Some sort of meatlike substance grated or shredded
Sauce
Various slaws and accoutrements
All on the table
Let the self serve pandemonium commence.
*At xmas we generally do left over roast bao buns which destroys the remains preventing "day 5 of christmas turkey" but other times of the year its normally vegan and its treated with the same gusto.
My partner's vegetarian and we have a tradition now of making a massive layered pie with a hot water crust, baked in a 10" cake tin.
Use your imagination for fillings.
E.g.
I use the pastry recipe here https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2015/oct/10/vegetable-spicy-bean-pie-hot-water-pastry-recipe-ruby-tandoh
Last year we had veggie haggis. It went down very well.
This year we are going to have veggie haggis pies.
Everyone knows that the best bits of Xmas dinner are in fact all the veg anyway, so we do all that and just leave off the meat.
Many years of vegetarian Xmas dinner experience here. We forget about traditional style and just go for whatever nice veggie meal we fancy; thai, greek, Vietnamese, veggie pie etc etc. it's about the meal occasion not what's served really. We always have a bowl of roast potatoes though because they go with anything and are so damned delicious. I'd also forget about substitutes for meat and find good recipe ideas online or in a decent cookbook.
You can still do crackers and drink booze and it feels like a 'traditional' Christmas.
We make a nut roast wellington - so nut roast in a puff pastry jacket. Works very well with the rest of traditional roast dinner stuff
What we have done for a few years is Mushroom Wellington with mushroom and sherry sauce/gravy. Obviously all the traditional veg and trimmings, which as observed ^^^^ is what makes Xmas dinner.
Nice thing about the Wellington is it tastes great and can look quite special if you go to town on the pastry decoration, oak leaves and what have you?
Anything but a nut roast.
If you want a roast lunch but veggie you can bake a whole cauliflower head, Blanch it first, baste with butter and spices. Pop it in the oven.
I was thinking of trying this after seeing it on one of the cooking shows, it looked great
We forget about traditional style and just go for whatever nice veggie meal we fancy; thai, greek, Vietnamese, veggie pie etc etc. it’s about the meal occasion not what’s served really.
That.
I think it applies to veggie food generally. Non-veggies seem to get too hung up on the 'replacing meat' bit, rather than just cooking a nice meal. Once you lose the idea that it has to be a certain style a whole new world opens up.
I’ve been a veggie all my adult life. I’m happy with just the veggies and a big pile of roast spuds / yorkshire puds. It’s one meal, a lack of protein ain’t a problem.
We normally do a couple of mushroom wellingtons. Lots of recipes out there and you can make it as simple or as fancy as you like. Also you can make it in advance and just warm it through on the big day.
This is probably the closest to the recipe we use, which is an amalgamation of many different versions. We tend to use sherry rather than red wine and add in some more chopped mixed nuts. If you're feeling lazy just use onion chutney rather than caramelising your own onions.
https://www.thelastfoodblog.com/mushroom-wellington/
I think it applies to veggie food generally. Non-veggies seem to get too hung up on the ‘replacing meat’ bit, rather than just cooking a nice meal. Once you lose the idea that it has to be a certain style a whole new world opens up.
Me and Mrs Zip had a week of eating lots of meaty dishes so wanted something lighter.
Looked up a vegetarian restaurant we had seen when out and about.
The whole menu was fake meat meals. Bloody stupid .
We wanted those Buddha bowls with all the beans and grains, not a lame sausage with chips.
We do a full traditional Christmas roast, but swap out the turkey for Quorn fillets.
Veggie pie, plenty of stuffing, all the roast potatoes, usual veg sides.
We do mushroom, Brie and cranberry filled filo parcels.
Because it's Christmas, what you want to do is take a recipe of something that's really nice any time of year and ruin it by putting frikkin orange in it or something equally at odds.
Agree with others that the roast dinner is fab even if you don't do a centre piece. We have a roast most weekends and I'm happy with just the veg. But if you want a centrepiece for every one then nut roast, mushroom wellington, or a different 'parcel' all nice.
Our nut roast based on https://www.emmaslittlekitchen.com/leek-mushroom-cashew-roast-vegan/
Moroccan style parcels https://simply-veggie.blogspot.com/2011/07/morroccan-veggie-parcels.html?m=1
Everyone knows that the best bits of Xmas dinner are in fact all the veg anyway, so we do all that and just leave off the meat.
That's what my daughter and SiL both tell me. I make sure there are Yorkshires and cauliflower cheese.
If whatever you're doing is roast-based Hugh Infernally Whittingstall's vegan gravy (the one made with a bit of coffee) is just a stonkingly good gravy. I make it even when doing meat based roasts just because having more gravy can only be a good thing.
Another vote for mushroom wellington.
Veggie Haggis is lovely.
Meat one better just.
Whatever fancy nut roast type thing catches your eye in M&S.
Though Lidl and Aldi do some really nice ones as well these days.
I'll probably do this for me and my GF for our post-xmas Xmas dinner.
As above, it's much more about the trimmings than the meat anyway.
@Bruce have you tried Cathedral City vegan cheese? My better half loves it and it's by far the most "real" vegan cheese I've sampled.
We bought a pack of https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/317311781?_gl=1*1gg003n*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTE1MTEwMTAxMC4xNzMyNDUyMTA0*_ga_33B19D36CY*MTczMjQ1MjEwNC4xLjAuMTczMjQ1MjEwNC4wLjAuMTQ2Njc1NTE0Mg.. to try a few weeks back and tasted fine, so bought some more for Xmas Day, to keep things simple for the vegans/vegetarians.
I’ve been a veggie all my adult life. I’m happy with just the veggies and a big pile of roast spuds / yorkshire puds. It’s one meal, a lack of protein ain’t a problem.
Same.
One thing to consider if you're catering for actual vegetarians is to keep the veg veggie. So, no lard in the roast spuds and so on. If you're making gravy using granules, a surprising number are vegetarian-friendly, check the labels. Regular Bisto is for instance, though Bisto Best beef flavour isn't. Bisto Best onion gravy is superb.
Quorn do a roast which is really tasty, but it's a bit of a waste unless you're feeding several people or expecting to use up leftovers.
I'd say something curried, and make it a hot one.
Pretty much anything hot curried you can never really tell what the main ingredient is, be it meat or veg.
PLUS. It allows you to 'go Indian' on the beers - Cobra, Tiger, or how about Bombay Bicycle( by Kingfisher)
https://curryculture.co.uk/bombay-bicycle-beer-review/
Plants are poison.
Mushroom Wellington is a great idea
We've done this one a few times for family
How to make the perfect vegetarian wellington – recipe | Felicity Cloake's How to make the perfect … https://www.theguardian.com/food/2021/dec/15/how-to-make-the-perfect-vegetarian-wellington-recipe?CMP=share_btn_url
As a vegan, my xmas dinner for the last couple of years has been https://www.sgaiafoods.co.uk/
Everyone knows the most important part is the roast tatties anyway!
How about a giant mushroom vol-au-vent, creamy sherried mushrooms in a giant pastry case and serve slices of it.
I did a spanakopita one year (has cheese, so veggie but not vegan) which looked spectacular on the table and went down a treat. I bought the filo pastry.
Other years I’ve mostly done other pie variations. None of the veggies in my family like mushrooms or nuts, so the usual staples are out.
Plants are poison.
Whereas meat has demonstrably done wonders for your brain.
Veggie Haggis is lovely.
A frequent starter for us....A big field mushroom each with the stalk trimmed and flipped over on a baking sheet and drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper. Pile up some pre microwaved veggie haggis on top and bang it in the over. Once ready drizzle over some whisky before serving.
There are so many good vegan and veggie options. One of the Bosh books has got a whole vegan christmas sections with lovely takes on pig in blankets.
Hosting my mum for the first time in..........ever actually thinking about it. I 'know' she'll be muttering to anyone and everyone about having to have a vegan Christmas dinner so a bit of pressure on to knock it out of the park this year if for not other reason to shut her up!
@benos - was it salty? I find when I've cooked it that it can be very salty when freshly baked but once cool it's fine.
I don’t remember it being particularly salty, but it probably was reasonably so from the feta. There was a lot of spinach as well, so it wasn’t as salty as some Greek-style cheese pies can be. I do remember that we ate it hot from the oven.
Sounds great ! Mass invites on stw ? ? ?️
Xmas gift dinner
Professional chefs buy filo pastry, absolutely no-one hand-makes that shit.
Absolutely, even the filo pastry factories buy it in.