I have had lots of vegetarians and vegans around for dinner over the years. Check carefully what they do and do not eat! Otherwise your efforts may be in vain!!
I made my rather fab (if I do say so myself) mushroom risotto for a vegetarian who hated mushrooms....
I did roasted courgettes for a vegetarian who hates courgettes....
I did a sweetcorn soup for a veggie hater of sweetcorn....
I served egg pasta to a vegan....
These days I ask guests to specify exactly which foods they hate.
I agree with some of the other posters that food with an 'Asian/Thai/Chinese - style' are a great option. Tasty and quick, and you can serve with rice or a variety of noodles.
As I am obliged to eat the food as well, I prefer adding some protein to my veggie/ vegan dinners to make them more filling. Just veggies and carbs tends to leave me a bit too hungry afterwards!
I usually throw some Quorn pieces/cashew nuts/ sesame seeds into stir fries.
If I am doing roast veggies and couscous, chick peas are my protein of choice.
If I am doing 'Italian-style' food (pasta/ tomato sauce type stuff), I usually have some cannellini beans in there somewhere, or sprinkle some toasted pine nuts.
My Indian veggie curries tend to have a handful of lentils (red split lentils or the yellow chana dhal style ones).
I do a 'tex-mex' type of chilli with red kidney beans to eat with those soft flour tortillas.
A quick lunch is a big bowl of miso soup with some green veg, some soba noodles and small chopped up cubes of firm tofu thrown in.
My daughter, aged 15, recently turned veggie as teenagers tend to do and I've tried nearly every veggie offering on the admittedly small market!!
I have, however, found that Migros do a veggie (soya) mince that is really quite good. You can basically throw it into any dish that normally requires mince. The rest of the family haven't even noticed the difference, surprisingly as my husband (a Swissie) is a raging Carnivore!! I haven't had the heart to tell him yet!
I also make jacket potatoes with various cheese/spicy bean fillings, homemade pizza with lots of veg, vegetable Lasagne, soups, many varieties of pasta with either pesto or tomato sauce, cheese/veg quiches & salad, Thai curry with rice (just halve the sauce & put your chicken/Fish/meat in your half). It takes a bit of nifty pan work in the kitchen but I think I've cracked it now! The keyword for me is Cheese, and lots of it!! Feel free to PM me for recipes! Good luck & have fun with your Veggie guest
There are two sorts of people who reply, "Oh, I eat anything and everything".
There are those that really do eat everything (and enjoy it) and then there are those who eat everything within their own limited sphere of food knowledge.
Roasted mediterranean veggies with goats cheese, various risottos (mushroom, leek & gorgonzola - current favourite, asparagus), thai green curry using aubergine and sweet potato or squash instead of chicken, aubergine & mushroom stroganoff - these are my no-brainer standards for veggie friends, and myself from time to time. To make slightly more effort, Simon Rimmer's Accidental Vegetarian is a great cookbook - he's a meat eater, but has a very good vegetarian restaurant in Manchester, and in this book approaches vegetarian cooking from the point of finding textures and flavours that will keep the carnivore happy as well as the veggie - recommended.
Thanks for all the helpful tips and tricks! My husband and I love meat, as do most of our friends, so I've never really had to make excursions into the minefield that vegetarian cooking obviously can be
I've got plenty of inspiration now, and our guest will only be with us for 3 weeks. Thank you again, guys and gals!
One of my favourite vegetarian dishes (only by default, as it is a lovely dish anyway!) is wild mushroom risotto, served with a rocket and mixed baby leaf salad.
I make the risotto with shallots, garlic, arborio rice, a lovely selection of wild mushrooms (can be dried), stock, white wine, seasoning and chopped parsley. When it is cooked and creamy, drizzle over some truffle oil and a sprinkling of shaved parmesan and, voila!!
Cooking vegetarian is quite simple. Although my OH and myself aren't strict veggies, we do as much as we can (isn't that a statement!) to reduce our meat and fish consumption - not for the health benefits, or for animal cruelty, but because of the environmental impacts. Personally , I think everyone should aim to restrict how much meat (esp. beef) they buy.
Simple ideas off the top of my head that can easily be made from scratch to show you made an effort:
Apps:
- Garlic bread with spring onions and grated mozz
- Tomato, mozz and basil with balsamic, olive oil & S+P
Meals:
- Lasagna with peppers, mushrooms (portobello if you can find it), squash and spinach.
- Potato Gratin with broccoli and roasted red peppers.
- Homemade pizza with fresh ingredients (dough recipe here )
Dessert:
-Banana/pineapple flambe
Whenever I'm in a bind, I visit this website for inspiration.
I love cooking, but as I'm married to a dedicated carnivore I've always looked for ideas and recipes in that direction. There's a whole new veggie foodie world out there just waiting to be explored
I think a lot of Anglos and northern/eastern Europeans got turned off to vegetables because of the overcooked, under-seasoned veggies that were the norm for so long.
I've convinced many a picky eater that they don't actually hate vegetables, simply by serving them properly done ones. Some winners: fried eggplant, sauteed summer squash, grilled veggies of all kind (with garlic oil: grate a TON of garlic, add a bunch of salt and pepper, and then add about the double amount of olive oil -- then spread this on after grilling*).
And of course Asian cooking is an endless source of inspiration for veggie dishes, since they don't see vegetables as an afterthought like we do.
*Disclaimer: some Swiss and Germans are incompatible with the raw garlic element.
Hi I am a veggie and you will need to be careful if you serve Thai food as most pastes contain fish sauce. There is also usually fish powder in miso soup. Indian food and Chinese food both have very good veggie dishes and can highly recommend the Quorn (meat subsitute) they sell in Migros, however not so good if guest is vegan as I think it contains milk.
For vegetarians, my 2 favorite types of cuisine with a great selection and variety of recipes are Indian and Italian.
A lot of Indians are vegetarian and they have thousands of recipes for vegetables, lentils, rice dishes and curries. Please note that within Indian cuisine itself, there are several regional cuisines which are totally different from each other. Punjabi, Kashmiri, Gujrati, Kerala, to name a few. They all taste different, use different spices for their dishes and are definitely not monotonous.
For Italian, I am of course talking about pasta recipes. There are thousands of vegetarian sauces to accompany pasta which are absolutely fantastic.
Just Google and you'll find several recipes.
My sister is vegetarian and she really enjoys her food and always has a great variety.
I've been knocking up falafels of late and this recipe is very quick and easy..
250g/9oz chickpeas , 1 medium onion , very finely chopped 2 cloves garlic , crushed or finely chopped 2 tsp ground cumin 2 tsp ground coriander seed 6 tbsp chopped parsley 1⁄2 tsp chilli powder 2 rounded tbsp plain flour 1 tsp salt Oil for deep fat frying Pulse the chickpeas, put in a bowl. Pulse the rest of the ingredients (apart from flour) and add to chickpeas, mix in flour and mix together. Roll into small balls and flatten.
Heat oil and fry for a couple of minutes each side.....lovely!
As a side note: If anyone is considering the moral, economic and ecological stance on being or becoming vegetarian, might I suggest reading "Eating Animals" by Jonathan Safran Foer. It's an extremely well researched, eloquently written book about Factory Farming (amongst other related topics) and how ill-informed the public are concerning the way we (human beings) treat (torture!!!) the animals thet provide us with our daily protein.
I'm an omnivore and but this piece justifiable evokes my guilt.