Vegan Dinner Party!

fuzzieme

I'm not looking for any criticisms and not starting to cause conflict, I'm having my boyfriend's uncle and his wife over for dinner tomorrow night and they know they'll be served a vegan meal.

They're getting a vegan meal because it's been talked to death, they can't understand how it's possible. And the nicest way to give them insight into foods that are vegan is to just cook them some. And not to tell scary tales.

I don't get into the whys because it's too upsetting and troubling for everyone, I never discuss it unless they straight out ask for specifics, and these two are lovely and they don't press me - unless it's actually a possibility that you might give up certain foods, I don't want to be the person responsible for a disgusting image in your head every time you sit down to tea and toast with a boiled egg. I once told my boyfriend about something I seen at work (a kitchen) when I cracked open an egg and he couldn't eat them for a year. Poor thing.

Anyway, all I'm asking for is if you think this menu sounds tasty, I had to change it because I found out the uncle doesn't like pasta. I've tried to keep it fairly safe, nothing too "vegan", foods that should make sense to them and that they will be used to eating. I should also state that I live somewhere where even vegetarians can have a hard time from society. Very much a place where dinner is steak and chips, or turkey, potatoes and carrots.

And it's fattening, MFP is on hold

On arrival:

Homemade tortilla chips (Baked), homemade breadsticks and carrot sticks with salsa and hummus. They're arriving at 7 and dinner's at 8, nobody wants to eat as soon as they arrive. And champagne! Cheap stuff though. This couple are funny as hell, they won't mind... Anyway....



Starter:

Chinese riceballs (baked) and a potato and chickpea croquette with a sweet and sour dip



Main: (Originally cannelloni, this idea is adapted from my cannelloni recipe)

Puff Pastry...puff (okay, I haven't named it yet. Someone come up with a name for me )
This starts with a square of pastry, added to it will be cream cheeze (it sucks on it's own but when I season it and add to it, it bakes up a treat, just like philidelphia. Cream cheese is fairly bland anyway so you can't tell the difference), the cream cheeze will be added to finely chopped garlic and onions and chopped baby spinach that's wilted down with white wine. This will be spread on the puff and topped with roasted sweet peppers and mushrooms, fresh basil leaves, four asparagus spears and a whole spring onion (these two will peek out of the puff) the top of the puff will be drizzed with oil infused with sundried tomatoes and sprinkled with herbs and nutritional yeast.

The plate will be dressed with a small root vegetable stack (potato, turnip and sweet potato, sandwiched together with carrot puree) baby leaf salad, a few roasted cherry tomatoes and a garnish of my marinara sauce, and on the table will be garlic hassleback potatoes and homemade italian foccacia. Please excuse any incorrect spellings, heh

Then dessert will be a small crepe with a scoop of icecream, with grated chocolate and a drizzle of "butter"scotch sauce...



I'm fairly nervous about the dinner party so please, don't slaughter me for not serving meat, or serving too much fat... I already know a lot of people would be offended for not being served meat alone but these people are important to me, we are becoming close and I want to let them get to understand me a bit better. All I want is honest answers if you would be happy with being served food like this. Remember, they do know it will be vegan, and they don't mind...so they say

Thanks folks! I'm off to prep stuff

sockoholic

It sounds lovely. I hope they enjoy it.

benol1

Hi,
Your menu sounds fantastic.
In case you don't know - cream cheese is not vegan and puff pastry usually contains a bucket-load of butter.
Next time you do a vegan meal - try vegetarian chinese or thai. East and Southeast Asian cuisines generally don't use diary so their vegetarian meals are almost always vegan as well. You can also use quorn products, tofu or gluten to substitute for meat or chicken. But note that quorn, while a mycoprotein, it is fed on egg. So for some vegan purists it is a 'no go' option.
I hope you have a great night.
kind regards,

Ben

fuzzieme

Hi,
Your menu sounds fantastic.
In case you don't know - cream cheese is not vegan and puff pastry usually contains a bucket-load of butter.
Next time you do a vegan meal - try vegetarian chinese or thai. East and Southeast Asian cuisines generally don't use diary so their vegetarian meals are almost always vegan as well. You can also use quorn products, tofu or gluten to substitute for meat or chicken. But note that quorn, while a mycoprotein, it is fed on egg. So for some vegan purists it is a 'no go' option.
I hope you have a great night.
kind regards,

Ben

Thanks Ben, the cream cheese and pastry I use are both certified, unfortunately not a single quorn product here is vegan I have soy mince that is good but I'm not a huge fan of mock meats, I prefer to make things that won't inevitably be compared to the meat counterpart . My boyfriend absolutely hates tofu (more an unwillingness to give it a chance I think, so I only ever make that for myself. Thanks to you both for the encouragement I'm well on my way, veg are roasted, the cheese and spinach is prepared, marinara is ready and the last crepe just came off the pan, woo

wolverine66

winner winner chicke....err.... puff pastry puff dinner

i got hungry reading the menu. it sounds very good. the effort you are putting into this meal will probably show them how important they are to you, so it is a sweet gesture if nothing else. but i think it will be a hit.

i do wonder how someone doesn't like pasta, but that's a different conversation, i think.

JaneDough_

Why are you baking the tortilla chips? =/
(Sorry as a Mexican, baking tortilla just sounds awful and weird) Why not fry them? They taste better.

Everything else sounds great!

fuzzieme

Why are you baking the tortilla chips? =/
(Sorry as a Mexican, baking tortilla just sounds awful and weird) Why not fry them? They taste better.

Everything else sounds great!

I don't have a fryer, heh I sprinkle them with oil and bake them on a marble slab, they still crisp up lovely. Probably still not near as good though, you're right. Do you think I should shallow fry them? Won't be doing them until tomorrow, thanks for the advise

fuzzieme

winner winner chicke....err.... puff pastry puff dinner

i got hungry reading the menu. it sounds very good. the effort you are putting into this meal will probably show them how important they are to you, so it is a sweet gesture if nothing else. but i think it will be a hit.

i do wonder how someone doesn't like pasta, but that's a different conversation, i think.

I know! And he will eat spaghetti, frustrating, but it's not for me to question Best avoid the topic, heh heh. I'm just glad he doesn't hate onions. Pet peeve. I can't work with someone who refuses to eat something if it contains onions.

Thanks for the encouragement, relaxing the nerves, phew Have to go shopping now, I forgot to get the oat cream for the butterscotch, eep


edit: I mean, spaghetti, probably the least incredible pasta there is!

Joreanasaurous

I am not a vegan and I think that sounds lovely. You would hear zero complaints coming from me.

atb0821

What time should I come over?

fuzzieme

I am not a vegan and I think that sounds lovely. You would hear zero complaints coming from me.

Thanks, this is all very reassuring, I've got loads done now. Not a lot left to do tomorrow, make the bread, make an iced vodka drink sorbet kinda thing...a recent addition....assemble the puffs...aaaand... I'm too tired to think.


Your dog is lovely. I've a dog too, the lady coming is terrified of dogs, eep. But she doesn't mind RV to much. He's not too mental, and I got him a massive bone and baked him some peanutbutter biscuits too for good measure. You can't be leaving the pup out of the party

fuzzieme

What time should I come over?

7pm would be good

Butterscotch sauce, never had it before, oh my. Wow. Mmm. You're gonna love it

xstarxdustx

Your menu sounds absolutely DELIGHTFUL!

Just a question though-how wilted is the spinach? It won't make the puff pastry soggy, right? Cream cheese barrier will help with that?

fuzzieme

Your menu sounds absolutely DELIGHTFUL!

Just a question though-how wilted is the spinach? It won't make the puff pastry soggy, right? Cream cheese barrier will help with that?

Class question, I like your thinking. It was wilted until completely soggy, much more than I'd usually do it, and when I added the cream cheese it was a bit runny so I added some arrowroot and nutritional yeast which thickened it up, it's been left to cool down now so it's even thicker and when I put it in the pastry it'll be about a half a centimeter deep across the whole of the inside so there isn't too much on the bottom only, and I'll also sprinkle the bottom with a tiny bit of cornflour before the cheese just incase, and I roll the base a little thinner than the sides to combat soggy bottom.

That's why I roasted the peppers and mushrooms first too, cause they leak out loads of water when they bake. I haven't made it like this before, but I've made it as a tartlet loads. The two sides will also be left open, the way a sausage roll would be, so any steam from the whole spring onion and the asparagus spears I'm adding fresh can escape.

SugarBaby71

Your menu sounds amazing. You will stun them with the variety of foods available that are plant based! Knock 'em dead!

fuzzieme

Your menu sounds amazing. You will stun them with the variety of foods available that are plant based! Knock 'em dead!

:flowerforyou:

FlaxMilk

I want to come eat. Sounds so good. Where do you get your champagne vegan? I haven't been able to find any yet. (Processing, not ingredients.) Champagne is one of the few alcohols I like.