Vegetarian Christmas dinner

KnoEndoRidin wrote: »

This will be my first Christmas as a vegetarian who is (mostly) responsible for Christmas dinner. (I was a vegetarian many years ago but wasn't responsible for the cooking). Any recommendations for a main vegetarian dish for Christmas dinner? It will be our traditional meal otherwise - roast potatoes, stuffing, lots and lots of vegetables and gravy. I'm looking for something that my non-veg family will enjoy and be wowed by. Ideas and recipes welcome . thanks.

For a side, I love Cowboy Caviar. Just beans, veggies, corn, and seasoning.

For a main dish, what about Sheet-Pan Mushroom Parmigiana or Vegetarian Stuffed Shells. Both would make a decent main dish.

I'd go with the Stuffed Shells. It can have tons of flavor and its easy to make in bulk.

I've done this one for Christmas, in case you like the sound of it: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/moroccan-spiced-pie

It takes time but it was spectacular. I used a springform pan so it kept its shape and was easy to release.

Lentil loaf, dairy free stuffed shells ( Kite hill ricotta) dairy free lasagna, hemp nut meatballs, minestrone as side, vegan sheppards pie, whole roasted stuffed cabbage, risotto stuffed peppers

I would stick with whatever is traditional in your family and maybe make a vegetarian main for yourself or just load up on vegetarian sides. I do that for my vegetarian step-mother (I do Christmas dinner when I'm in town, which is most of the time)...she is the only vegetarian in the family, and honestly, I'd be a little irked if she made Christmas dinner and it was all just vegetarian when nobody else in the family is doing that. I mean that's fine for the random Sunday dinner or whatever, but not for a major holiday...just my opinion of course. Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two days of the year that I consume certain foods, and I'd definitely be irked if I wasn't having my traditional fare.

I think it's clear that I'm with the "make a festive meat for the fam" camp, even though vegetarian myself. Holidays, to me, are not a manifesto. Ideally, IMO, they're a hug made of family traditions.

However, OP hasn't said anything about the context. If my family were flexitarians and not so tied to tradition, maybe were even saying "make a vegetarian feast, that would be fun!", that's a whole different thing. Some families I've known would be all in on an idea like that.

Seems she has been picked, or at least volunteered/was accepted to make the family dinner. We don't know more than that. I don't want to assume she's being *that* vegetarian.

Shepherd's Pie.

Filling based on eggplant and mushroom. Mashed potato crust. Last time I did this I also added a pastry crust just to be decadent. Mollie Katzen's recipe is a good starting point. I made this every Thanksgiving for decades and streamlined and improved the recipe. The texture of the eggplant can seem like there's actually meat in there. I've had people ask because they don't eat meat and thought it was in there.

I also used to make a "pumpkin pie" that was not for dessert. It had lots of garlic and onions as well as millet. Kind of an eggless quiche. It can be a main dish. I made this one for over a decade for Thanksgiving as well. For many years we had a potluck for Thanksgiving that a different household would host each year. It was fun. Typically what would happen is: I would show up and put my dishes on the main dish area. I would go take off my coat and put it away. I would go back and move my pie OFF of the dessert table and back to the main meal table. Anyone eating that thinking it was dessert would be in for a big surprise.

I was a vegetarian for 30 years. I stopped going to family events that were during food-focused holidays. I would plead and beg to please do NOT do anything special for me because there's always more than enough food. Yet the hosts would always want to make something extra. It made me feel guilty. They were already making "all the other things," and it's a lot of work! Worst was when it actually wasn't very good. I hate to waste food. I would disagree with the suggestions to go ahead and make meaty dishes for your guests.

This type of holiday is supposed to be about getting together and sharing joy and, presumably, family & friends. While there's a feast involved, the holiday is not about the food. If it is just about food to someone, I think they need to reassess their values. I would not expect a Muslim or Jew to make me bacon if I were invited to a holiday meal at their home. I would not expect a Hindu to make me a brisket. I would not expect a vegetarian to make any meat on my behalf even now that I include some animals in my diet. I claim that bacon is a vegetable, but I'm only joking. Garlic however IS a vegetable....

As a vegetarian at a family meal, there was usually one or two things I would decline eating (turkey and/or brisket). Everything else was fair game. All of the people who did eat meat also ate "all the other things." So if you skip the meat, whatever kind of meat is traditional for you, it's only ONE thing that's missing. If someone gets all knotted up about it, then they just volunteered to host next year.

If you have a guest who's doing the Carnivore Diet, then there's gonna be trouble because there really isn't anything for them to eat. Ask them to bring a salami.

AnnPT77 wrote: »

COGypsy wrote: »

My family has done vegetarian holidays for years. As we've gotten older and more spread out, it just doesn't make sense to do huge dinners, so we've streamlined. My sister is a vegetarian and my father is all but vegetarian, so it doesn't make sense to do entire turkeys or hams for the remaining 1 or 2 of us. No one likes white meat, so roasting just a turkey breast is worse than no turkey at all, lol.

Our go-to main dish is a vegetable tart. We make it on a cookie sheet, but it would be really pretty in a round pizza pan. I prefer a flaky crust with puff pastry or rolled out crescent rolls, but we've also used the pre-made pizza dough from the store. Then we roast whatever veggies we want on it. This Thanksgiving was butternut squash, radishes, brussel sprouts, red onions, fresh thyme, and some of the fancy colored carrots. I brushed the crust with olive oil and sliced garlic, arranged the vegetables so they were pretty and sprinkled gruyere cheese on top. Baked until the crust was done and dinner was ready.

If you want something a bit more impressive, Google "Vegducken". It's a zucchini inside an eggplant inside a butternut squash that you tie up like a roast. It's memorable and a great presentation, but pretty labor intensive. But the recipe is worth perusing, even if you don't end up making it!

Oh, man: I've never heard of that. That looks very fun (and tasty with the right recipe). Thank you. Now I want to try it, probably just for me?

I looked at a couple of recipes, and honestly I think it doesn't sound all that daunting labor-wise for someone who'd consider the veggie Wellington, pot-pie type things, etc. It's just a little odder prep, not that much more total effort.

No criticism intended here, @COGypsy, and maybe I'm mis-remembering, but I'm thinking you may've mentioned being someone who prefers no or simple cooking (which is what I do most days, TBH). I think for someone who finds cooking slightly more elaborate things fun, this isn't extreme.

Thank you for pointing this out - look interesting/good!

As I recall - the labor was not so much in the cooking, but the actual assembly of the vegetables that had to be cut in half in order to "stuff" inside each other and then getting the butcher tie around it all without squishing out the filling and it all coming apart again was where the challenge really was. It ended up being pretty entertaining and an excellent family bonding opportunity.

COGypsy wrote: »

My family has done vegetarian holidays for years. As we've gotten older and more spread out, it just doesn't make sense to do huge dinners, so we've streamlined. My sister is a vegetarian and my father is all but vegetarian, so it doesn't make sense to do entire turkeys or hams for the remaining 1 or 2 of us. No one likes white meat, so roasting just a turkey breast is worse than no turkey at all, lol.

Our go-to main dish is a vegetable tart. We make it on a cookie sheet, but it would be really pretty in a round pizza pan. I prefer a flaky crust with puff pastry or rolled out crescent rolls, but we've also used the pre-made pizza dough from the store. Then we roast whatever veggies we want on it. This Thanksgiving was butternut squash, radishes, brussel sprouts, red onions, fresh thyme, and some of the fancy colored carrots. I brushed the crust with olive oil and sliced garlic, arranged the vegetables so they were pretty and sprinkled gruyere cheese on top. Baked until the crust was done and dinner was ready.

If you want something a bit more impressive, Google "Vegducken". It's a zucchini inside an eggplant inside a butternut squash that you tie up like a roast. It's memorable and a great presentation, but pretty labor intensive. But the recipe is worth perusing, even if you don't end up making it!

I'm very much a meat eater! But that veggie tart sounds so good! And I bet you could make it really pretty! I'm doing that!

One Xmas when my granddaughter was vegetarian, we had a soup dinner, potato soup for the veggie girl, stew and chili, cornbread, homemade overnight rolls. Everyone was so relieved when they didn't see ANOTHER turkey they had to get through on the table. Big hit. I haven't made a turkey dinner since then.
It's a new tradition.
(Not part of the question, but my grandkids were just getting interested in cooking that Christmas, so we/they made an apple tart for dessert with a few cranberries on top for Xmas cheer while their parents were out shopping. The kids were thrilled when everyone loved it! Yeah! No pumpkin or pecan pie in sight. They were all tired of pies)