Vegetarian Christmas alternative?

ubamother

My daughter has been vegetarian for many years - she says that the most important thing of all is good hot veggie gravy and good veggie stuffing - luckily my husband makes really good veggie gravy so that's his job. She detests anything like nut roast. I've done things like stuffed courgettes etc. before now, but she just loves the millions of veg we do, with stuffing and veggie gravy.

dharm999

We always have a mushroom wellington, from the Cranks cookbook. It has nuts in it but the mix you make is lvely as pate on toast, so we always make extra. Its great, you can make it weeks beforehand and freeze it, and then just pop it in the oven on the day. Link below

http://yumblog.co.uk/archives/116

We put in more cashews and less almonds, but its to your own taste

Pitlanepiglet

dharm999 wrote: »

We always have a mushroom wellington, from the Cranks cookbook. It has nuts in it but the mix you make is lvely as pate on toast, so we always make extra. Its great, you can make it weeks beforehand and freeze it, and then just pop it in the oven on the day. Link below

http://yumblog.co.uk/archives/116

We put in more cashews and less almonds, but its to your own taste

This sounds lovely and presumably a mushroom brie and cranberry version as above would be the same but different!

I love their description of "8.75 on the International Scale of Faff" :rotfl:

Assuming they all eat pastry, I think a variation of this might be a winner

dharm999

Pitlanepiglet wrote: »

This sounds lovely and presumably a mushroom brie and cranberry version as above would be the same but different!

I love their description of "8.75 on the International Scale of Faff" :rotfl:

Assuming they all eat pastry, I think a variation of this might be a winner

It is a bit of a faff, but well worth it. We always make enough to have two wellingtons, one for Xmas and then one for a few days later, as we usually have relies around after Xmas.

marmiterulesok

westiea wrote: »

All lovely ideas

We have a chestnut roast - I only make it at xmas time - a 20 year tradition that still goes down well with veggy and meat eaters alike. I make 2 on xmas eve - one we have hot xmas day with all the trimmings and gravy and one sliced cold with new pots salad chutney etc on boxing day.

Recipe


In a large pan saute (in butter and oil) 1 lge onions finely chopped until soft then add 2 carrots finely chopped, 2 sticks of celery finely chopped, 2 Red peppers finely chopped, 1 courgette finely chopped, a small shake of sage, thyme and rosemary each and saute for 15mins with lid loosely on - stir every now and then to stop veggys sticking. Chop roughly a tin of chestnuts and add to the veggys.Breadcrumb 2-3 slices of granary bread. Make about 200mls stock (i use Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillion powder - available most supermarkets- and just mix it in jug with boiling water from kettle) and add 1 tspoon marmite and a shake of soy sauce.

• Now add the breadcrumbs to veggys and then add 2 lightly beaten eggs (i presume they are not vegans but are ovo-lacto veggys?)
  Then add enough stock mixture just to moisten it (make it like a sponge mix consistency.) Taste for salt and pepper and add as needed (the stock is quite salty so i add at the end)
  
  Bake in a lined tin (I have a xmas tree cake tin i got from tkmax and serve it in that ) for 45mins at gas 4 etc
  Can we rewarmed xmas day or served cold.Its fab and very xmassy with the chestnuts - and no one feels deprived. :xmastree:

This sounds really nice,I think I'm going to make this as a trial run for the Big Day.

What amount roughly of chestnuts do you use?

Does it matter if I use an oven-proof dish instead of a tin?

Thanks!

valentina

I buy some frozen puff pastry cases (small - about 4" dia) and then make up a filling, have used mushrooms, stilton, leeks, chestnuts, basically whatever you fancy or have in your cupboards (!), cook it in a frying pan with e.g. olive oil, balsamic vinegar, bit of sugar if you've got red onions. Bake the cases for a bit until they rise and look a bit brown, fill them with the mixture. Easy and because the pastry's frozen, quick.

natlie

Hi
I am veggie and I usually have just the veg - its enough - I don't like quorn - might be worth asking them?

Jus-rol do large vol-au-vont cases and you can fill these with caremelised onion and goats cheese or sundried tomato and cheese or spinach and ricotta - they only take 10 minutes in the oven.

Delia smith has a recipe for parsnip roulade that you can serve hot or cold and would be nice with cold cuts next day for meat eaters. You can freeze it in slices.

There was a nice looking corgette roulade on come dine with me during the week - should be on channel 4 website

Nat

LameWolf

jackieglasgow wrote: »

I also have a lovely recipe for vegetable croquettes with chestnuts which is gorgeous, but its not on this computer, I will post it later for you - or if LameWolf is reading it she may have it, as I passed it onto her too.

*waves to Jackieg* Was this the one? I don't have a note of who gave it to me.

Vegetarian Christmas meal of chestnut croquettes with tomato.

Serves two
The tomato sauce ingredients
1 tin chopped plum tomatoes
1 bunch basil, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 tbls olive oil
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Tomato sauce method
1. Warm the olive oil in a pan and soften garlic add the tomato and sugar then slowly reduce by a third.
2. Finish by sprinkling on the chopped basil.

Croquette ingredients
800g potatoes boiled, drained and placed in a pot on a low heat until almost cooked (or bake as suggested below)
100 g pre-cooked chestnuts
1quartered 400g butternut squash roasted at 180oc /30 minutes then cut into smallish cubes
2 carrots smallish cubes/1 onion chopped/1 ts cumin /1/2 ts dry thyme/1 chopped red pepper
2 tbls olive oil,2 cloves garlic
150g bread crumbs
100g plain flour
1 egg yolk
Croquette method
1. Pierce potatoes then bake at 190 C for about 60-90 minutes until tender
2. Soften the onion, carrot, red peppers and garlic in olive oil add cumin and thyme remove from heat
3. Strain the vegetables from the oil. Reserving the oil.
4. Cut potatoes in half, scoop out the flesh then mash the hot dry potatoes in a bowl and pour them out on to a floured work surface.
5. Gently mix in the egg, flour, cooked cubed Pumpkin, carrots, onion, peppers, garlic and chopped chestnuts.
6. Lightly knead together and roll in to 2ins by 8ins Sausage shape.
7. Place in fridge to firm then brush with reserved frying olive oil
8. Pour dried breadcrumbs on to a tray and roll into a croquette
9. Bake on a greased tray at 180oc for 30 mins AND SLICE.
10. Serve with the tomato sauce and all the veggie Christmas trimmings

I also make it as a sort of loaf bake topped with the breadcrumbs which was lovely, not sure where it came from originally though.

sillyvixen wrote: »

also make sure your roast potatoes are veggie (cooked in veg oil, not lard or around the turkey) as a veggie with food allergies i got ill eating roast pots at a veggie friends house (dont eat them at mums for the above reason) - apparently they always use lard to cook their roast pots, despite being "veggie"!!!!!!

I would absolutely second this. I've fallen foul (or even fowl) of roast spuds cooked in goose fat before now, and ended up being 'orribly ill.

katkins78

Hi, I've been a vegetarian for the last twenty years, and to be honest I would be happy with any veggie alternative as long as it could be served alongside the traditional roast veggies etc.
Often at the work's Christmas meals the only vegetarian alternative has been something like mushroom stroganoff-served with rice. I love stroganoff, but when everyone else is eating roast potatoes etc- I want them too!
Also I agree veggie gravy is a must, and as long as the stuffing is veggie and cooked separately from the bird, I would be more than happy and not feel left out.

jackieglasgow

Thanks LameWolf, that's the very one