I’ve got the tribe round for Christmas dinner and need some inspiration regarding the starter.

My brief is as follows:

• Nothing too spicy (fussy parents and niece)
• Not soup (my kids are a bit messy)
• Something that can be made in advance or is relatively simple/quick to prepare
• Vegetarian

Any ideas?

My ex once suggested we could try a three bird roast for Christmas!

I have to admit, I was more than a little disappointed come Christmas day 🙁

Red thai beef curry, swimming in sauce: the red’s nice and festive and it lets the rest of the family know who’s boss.

Either that or a nut loaf, I suppose.

have to admit, I was more than a little disappointed come Christmas day

I was about to make a joke about the construction of that sentence… but though better of it.

We’re having Duck this year, but I’m not sure that counts as vegetarian, although I’m pretty sure the duck didn’t eat meat.

Thanks. So far we’ve had spicy, meaty and swimming in sauce. 🙄

Hilarious John no really you are 🙄

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/vegetarian/vegetarian-christmas/
http://www.viva.org.uk/christmas/recipes.php

Hilarious John no really you are

Thanks

HTS – M-i-L is coming this year and for medical reasons she cant eat anything spicy or containing onions or frankly anything with flavour 🙄 … so my plan is individual Bœuf en Croûte.

Some top notch filet wrapped in a puff pastry. Can be cling filmed and put in the fridge ready to cook. Mine/Mrs S can have an onion/chanterelle stuffing etc, MIL can be plain.

Also scallops to start – hers plain sauteed, ours with a little red chilli.

FFS, why put “vegetarian” at the end of the post where lazy buggers like me wont bother reading eh?

Still, you can do mini wellingtons, but with Tofu or something…

Smoked salmon blinis? Some posh pate maybe?

Edit: oops, I missed the vegetarian bit too. Might allow fish I suppose?

Might allow fish I suppose?

No.

Goats cheese & cranberry sauce filo parcels and/or deep-fried battered mushrooms stuffed with stilton. Both served with a small salad of basil, parsley, babyleaf spinach and chives.

We had a pre-xmas meal “starter & desert practice” over the weekend. Those two were the most popular.

*edit* Parcels: http://uktv.co.uk/food/recipe/aid/516625
Mushrooms: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/stiltonstuffedmushro_84908

Butternut Squash Risotto? Very easy to make, very child-friendly, get some ramekins so you can present it well (and prepare a bit beforehand and leave warming in the oven).

Go on then, serious answer: Depends how many vegetarians are coming. If there’s only one I’d make a simpler dish for that person, and go with turkey etc. for everyone else. I’m guessing it’s what fussy parents and picky children will be expecting.

If there’s lots of vegetarians go with a nut roast or similar: it comes on a big tray, surrounded by roast potatoes etc., and looks like a proper Christmas meal. Junkyard’s recipes all look very tasty*, but I doubt a picky (elderly?) parent would be too impressed.

* really, they do. I like vegetarian food.

Can’t you do something nice like lobster for the normal folk & a green salad for the veggies?

Main course is sorted. Turkey for those that want it, an alternative for those that don’t.

I want a veggie starter because I don’t want to be doing 2 different options for that as well.

I’d do something individual for the veggie, and everyone else can have pate. I’ve got nowt against veggie people, but if they were preparing the meal everyone would probably be on veggie stuff.

Prawn cocktail for eveyone, veggie gets small bowl of salad with thousand island sauce drizzled on top.

My wife and kids are the veggies. I’m a veggie (almost) too so it is the meat eaters who are getting the “special treatment”.

I once had a brussel sprout pizza in Slovakia.

awesome

😯

Very festive mind you.

Deep fry some veggies in chestnut batter, that’d do the trick. If you’re lucky, the family might even have room in their stomaches for the main.

why not do tapas-style starters – a load of stuff in the middle of the table – help yourself, bruschetta, dips, etc. My mum does this thing called dukha (sp?). Roast/dry fry 3 or 4 different types of nut, grind down to a rough powder, serve with olive oil and good crusty bagettes – dip bread into oil then into nut powder.

That way it’s only veggie dstarters but the odds are no-one will notice

Mushrooms in garlic and cream. Possibly some Gruyere in the sauce to thicken it up a lot.

Champagne?

Chocolate,

Tomato and mozzerella (sp?) salad

I’d just let the vegetarians go hungry, after all so they make a special effort to cook you meat when you go round to theirs?

Simple, straightforward, seasonal.

I’d just let the vegetarians go hungry, after all so they make a special effort to cook you meat when you go round to theirs?

I am the ####ing vegetarian 🙄

do you definitely have to have 3 courses? I always eat a lot on christmas day and I would bet that the main and sweet are generous, if you are really struggling then don’t stress over it

Melon

Figs with honey on goats cheese and green salad. Doddle to prepare, 10 mins in the oven. Eat

A selection of antipasto (meat and veggie) would probably work. Salamis, roast veg, houmous etc.

I was going to suggest asparagus and hollandaise sauce. But having to make fresh hollandaise and sort the roast etc is probably a recipe for disaster.