Inspiration for chirstmas dinner please!

[JDR]

I've got my brother in law who is veggie and my father in law who doesn't like cheese and all the food we keep coming up with seem to involve one or the other or both...

Starter in particular, though not soup as hubbie not keen

All inspiration gratefully received (and even better if three small people can eat it too!)

[aquarius moon]

Garlic mushrooms with dip makes a nice starter.

[katie1997]

JDR - some vegetarian starter ideas. You may have already done so but I find its best to check with the veggie guest what they like. When I used to be a veggie I hated mushrooms and celery (like them now tho) but it was awful trying to eat them them when someone had gone to the trouble of making a dish specially.

(Balsamic) roasted tomatoes and toasted bread salad.

Potato skins with sour cream/spring onions.

Butternut squash gnocchi (small portion).

Roasted red pepper & fennel.

Leek & potato souffle.

Blinis with chopped walnuts, pears, sour cream & chives.

Shame you can't do soups as watercress is delicious and you could serve with lovely walnut bread. Good luck.

[Otta]

Just uninvite them, bloody rude putting this sort of pressure on you at Christmas!

[katie1997]

Good point Otta!

I keep forgetting that as I love veggie food I wouldn't be disappointed by being served it but plenty of meat-eaters would. And who doesn't like cheese? I've changed my mind, tell 'em to bring their own dishes along!

[Huguenot]

They do seem to be imposing unreasonable restrictions upon you, and you seem to be taking them on.

I'm actually quite distressed that you've come on the EDF seeking solutions - it's not your job to deal with their petty demands, they are not 5 years old, and you are not mummy. Your hubby for starters can stop with this anti soup bollocks. It's just annoying. How old is he?

I think maybe for a couple of years when they all turn up you should discard the dutiful housewife approach and just go down the pub with mates.

Doormats are for doors.

[KidKruger]

I'd ask them (all 3) what they suggest for their tastes or what they usually eat or have enjoyed previously at Xmas, then see if there's anything common they all like.

If that failed I'd start an email chain with them all and 'facilitate' the discussion and progression to a mutually agreeable choice.

Let them join in the process rather than you take on the hassle.

Maybe next year (wherever they go, assuming they haven't run out of people to piss-off !) they'll be more flexible having seen the bind they put their host in.

[Peckhamgatecrasher]

There's a yummy-looking recipe for roasted root veg, mini onion yorkshire puds and a horseradish sauce in yesterday's Telegraph magazine. Annoyingly they don't have it on the online version (just the article about parsnips).

You could throw in a roast joint for the meat eaters.

If you fancy the sound of it, I will copy it out for you.

Your starter for ten (six or whatever) could be Telegraph's fennel and pomegranate salad (recipe on)line which looks good and can be prepped in advance.

[Alan Medic]

Is hubby not cooking dinner then? Well if not then stuff him (not literally.........then again might be an interesting starter)! I can only suggest a soup and that is potato and leek and get some soda bread to go with it. If hubby is still alive to eat it, I'm sure even he will like it.

[katie1997]

PGC that sounds yummy and perfect for little ones too. As does the medic's soup and soda bread, mmm.

Huguenot no wonder people find the Lounge daunting when asking for genuine* advice!

*how to cook rice/clean chandeliers/boil water aside.

[bonniebird]

We have some vegan friends, when we do a dinner party she brings her own vegan dish, i.e a lasagne or something, she doesn't mind this and I hate cooking and vegan, well, wouldn't know where to start! Ask them to bring a dish each :)

[peterstorm1985]

Hand them a large glass of something as they arrive and then keep it topped up. By the time lunchtime comes around a tub of hummus and some garlic bread fingers will suffice.

Shame you won't be able to roast the potatoes in goose fat.

[Jah Lush]

Make whatever you want and if they don't like what you put in front of 'em. Fuck 'em. Would a veggie/vegan go to the trouble of cooking a separate meat dish for you? I very much doubt it.

[wee quinnie]

Jah Lush Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> would a

> veggie/vegan go to the trouble of cooking a

> separate meat dish for you? I very much doubt it.

I don't want to get into the usual annoying debate that recurs so frequently on here....but whether or not a veggie/vegan is prepared to cook a meat dish for a non-veggie guest is more likely to depend upon what their reasons are for choosing to be a veggie/vegan. If it was all down to the easy option, I'm sure we'd all stick to the meat eating.

Sorry. Realise I am going off topic here.

[maxxi]

Roast potatoes in goose fat, make soup with chicken stock, bard the nut roast with bacon... and lie.

[womanofdulwich]

i made a lovely special meal that was a pasta bake .first you roast the veg- inc butternut squash onion peppers carrots. in the meantime you make quite a runny cheese sauce - add a boursin cheese to it for a garlic flavour and a packet of spinach. cook some pasta. then mix alltogether and bake in oven with parmesan on top - the colours of the veg make it look really attractive. you can serve this byitself or with a baked salmon/ roast meat/ poultry.

[Asset]

Isn't Christmas about being tolerant and welcoming and giving etc etc, not judging by reading some of comments above eh??

[Huguenot]

Yeah, but it goes both ways - it's not as if they guests are being tolerant is it?

In fact after handing over their awkward catering demands they'll be sat on their bums drinking plonk whilst the poor host worries about whether their requirements will be met and the food be of sufficient standard....

[womanofdulwich]

if you are the host then it is your responsability to provide food that your guests can/will eat.End of.( you can leave out the cheese from the above sauce and just put parmesan on half of the bake.

[Marmora Man]

A really good veggie starter is to make heaps of pancakes, layer them up into a cake with different veggies - some of the following work well: cooked wild mushrooms, caramelised onions, roast aubergene, fried courgettes (or grated courgette cooked in butter with chilli flakes, cooked spinach, make a separate pouring cheese sauce - cut wedges of the pancake cake and serve sauce separately.

I'm a huge carnivore but I do like this dish.

[Asset]

Huguenot, you're making a lot of assumptions here......

MM - after eating that starter they won't be able to eat anything else anyway!

[Cassius]

BBC had some good recipes - I am doing beetroot and orange soup, baby squash filled with spiced cous cous and panna cotta with fresh fruit. I quite like the fact that as a vegetarian I can more or less choose anything I want for Christmas lunch.

Good luck with whatever you eventually make.

[Ruffler]

How about this pate for the vegetarian http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2959/mushroom-and-tarragon-pt with a meat or fish version for the non veggies?

[Ruffler]

Actually, just noticed th BBC Good Food website has a whole page of veggie starter suggestions: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2959/mushroom-and-tarragon-pt