Our best-ever Christmas dinner menus: vegetarian
Who needs meat at a festive feast? Take a look at our entirely vegetarian Christmas dinner menu and put vegetables centre-stage.
Our best-ever Christmas dinner menus: vegetarian
Who needs meat at a festive feast? Take a look at our entirely vegetarian Christmas dinner menu and put vegetables centre-stage.
Vegetarians are always at risk of getting a bit of a bum deal at Christmas. If they’re the sole non-meat eater at the table, they’re often left to fend for themselves, trying to steal enough roast vegetables before they all get hoovered up, perhaps with a hastily baked nut roast if they’re lucky. But it’s actually easy to create an entire Christmas dinner containing no meat or fish whatsoever – without a nut roast or meat substitute in sight. Take a look at our favourite veggie festive recipes below and make this year’s meal the best you (or your vegetarian family members) have ever had.
Nibbles don’t have to mean smoked salmon or chicken liver pâté – with just a few minutes spent in the kitchen, you can present a stunning platter of vegetarian canapés with ease. Anne Faber’s beautiful little filo pastry baskets are filled with melted blue cheese and adorned with a whole pecan for both flavour and crunch, while Tom Aikens makes simple little pastry tarts topped with seasonal pumpkin, ricotta and spiced honey. For something truly impressive, however, Bruno Loubet’s choux buns stuffed with wild mushrooms, cheddar and herbs are a guaranteed crowd-pleaser.
For a vegetarian starter with all the flavour and indulgence of traditional smoked salmon, look no further than Nathan Outlaw’s delicious chicory tart with pickled walnuts, a pear salad and deep-fried bon bons of rich blue cheese. If you’re looking for something a little simpler that doesn’t require as much work in the kitchen, then there’s a fantastic butternut squash soup from Dominic Chapman, and for a dish that looks pretty on the plate and leaves plenty of room for the main course ahead, you can’t go wrong with Adam Gray’s salad of baby beetroot, hazelnuts, blue cheese and mustard.
The main course is where most cooks struggle to come up with a vegetarian option, but these recipes prove a veggie Christmas main can be just as breathtaking and delicious as any turkey. A vegetarian Wellington is the ultimate centrepiece; containing sweet potatoes, mushooms, kale and chestnuts, serve it with some herby mash and a flavourful onion gravy for an instantly loved main. Elly McCausland’s pumpkin and goat’s cheese tart is another pastry-based wonder, with halved figs adding a festive sweetness, whilst our own Pollyanna Coupland takes cauliflower cheese to the next level with her roast cauliflower in smoked cheddar sauce with pickled leeks, nuts and seeds.
SITES
