Help me, Lazyweb; you're my only hope...

[caddyman]

I need a vegetarian starter that is not soup for a Christmas Dinner where one quarter of the diners is a veggie.

Any ideas, Oh Lazyweb?

Comments

[irdm.livejournal.com]

Cucumber.

[irdm.livejournal.com]

Beans on Toast if they aren't too vegan?

With holly for seasonal effect.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Lazyweb seems to be broken tonight...

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

How veggie are they? I have many idea and can discuss...

[keith-london.livejournal.com]

Some sort of vegetable spring roll, or deep fried camembert cheese, or mushrooms freed in batter come to mind. What's wrong with pumpkin soup?

[nyarbaggytep.livejournal.com]

Stuffed mushrooms/peppers are relatively easy and jolly nice.

Mix some breadcrumbs, grated cheese, herbs and whatever else you like. (You can add stuff like bacon to the ones that aren't veggie as long as you remember which ones they are...)
Take one big flat mushroom and bung a wodge of a mixture on its underside and bake til looks tasty.

Alternatively make a risotto type rice mixture and fill a cleaned out whole pepper with it. Similar to above.

Or posh cheese on toast is good - get ciabatta, add slice of mozzarella, some fresh basil and a big slice of juicy beef tomato, drizzle with mix of olive oil and balsamic vinegar if desired. Bake til looks tasty (only takes a few mins) - likewise can add parma ham or similar for non-veggie types.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

I think about as veggie as you, My Dear. Best ignore fish to be on the safe side, but certainly will eat dairy.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Cor, I might have some of that meself...

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Some good ideas there, Sirrah.

Nothing wrong with pumpkin soup, it's simply a logistic problem in the kitchen.

[queenortart.livejournal.com]

ibarhis has a wonderful stuffed mushroom recipe with onions and chopped leeks softened and put on top and then a slew of roquefort on the top of that. I believe we're having it for Xmas lunch.

Or bilinis with caramelised onion houmous, and sour cream and chives(and the flesheaters could have smoked salmon on theirs)

Melba toast with mushroom pate, which should be easily obtained from Mr Waitrose.

Very posh cheese on toast, nice shapes which ellefurtle could cut out, or just cut the crusts off, ooh or you can use an english muffin each with silton and pears slices melted under the grill.

Anything there float your boat?

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

We shall cogitate on the many toothsome suggestions!

I am feeling hungry all of a sudden...

[keith-london.livejournal.com]

Marks and Spencer could be the answer! :-)

I like the idea of stuffed peppers mentioned below.. very classy! yes, they can be made a little in advance, and they should impress your guests!

[ellefurtle.livejournal.com]

Ooooo I like cutting things out!

[barrettyman.livejournal.com]

I would suggest christmas vegetable tartlets or a variation thereof.

Get some Filo pastry (shop bought in sheets)
Get a tart tray (you know the sort, 12 small cup cake size shapes on a tray)

For a filling try fresh breadcrumbs (couple of slices of bread in a blender)
finely chopped mushrooms and onion
fry the mushroom and onion adding any herbs spices, salt and vinegar as desired (probably just some mixed herbs, a little garlic, salt pepper)
take off the heat and add in the breadcrumbs
As you probably can't use eggs, this may not bind very well, in that case add a little tomato puree, a little cornflower and some vegetable stock (although again probably not too much. you want it damp not wet.


Grease the tart tray whith marge or similar vegan grease
Cut the filo into 4-5" squares and place in the cake tray to form small eight pointed stars.
Spray with vegetable oil, or brush with melted marge to help brown the pastry

Place the cooled down filling in the tarts and sprinkle with some finely grated cheese.


Basically the tartlet idea is the important one, you can fill it with what you like. last time I made these I filled them with a tomato and onion sauce with a couple of slice olives placed on top, very nice but not very christmassy. An alternative filling would be some nut roast mixture, or vegetarian stuffing.

[sack-boy.livejournal.com]

*sneaks in and looks for inspiration for his own cuisining*

Another possibility is to do one of the stuffed mushroom options, but to enclose the 'shroom with some cranberries on top inside some filo pastry with the corners/edges gathered up like a pouch bag thing.

A nice addition to stuffed 'shrooms is a drizzle of port or brandy - alternatively you could add the boozahol to the diner directly for more entertaining results ;o)

[barrettyman.livejournal.com]

Welsh rarebit on fancy bread is also very nice. Admittidly that is a variation of the cheese on toast theme :) Last time I made it I used blue cheese and added some bacon. but you can pretty much do what you like with it. Small slices for a starter though, possibly with rye bread or rather than wheat.

[lucyas.livejournal.com]

Melon balls with a sprinkling of ginger on top. Very easy. nice and fresh tasting before all the rich stuff, and vegan. And the ginger makes it kind of seasonal.

[lucyas.livejournal.com]

Ordinary vegetarians eat eggs. It is cheese you have to be careful about - you have to make sure it is vegetarian cheese made with vegetarian rennet. Vegans don't eat eggs but veggies usually do unless they simply don't like them or have an allergy or something. Of course it is a good idea to make sure they are free range eggs.

[caddyman.livejournal.com]

Crumbs. It's a fekking minefield!

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

Hey, beans on toast was my first thought too! Stacey asked me the other day if I'd ever had it, I said I LIVED on it as a kid, and she said it sounds disgusting. So I told her about that King Of Foods, chip butties. Ah, sheer heaven.

[bluesman.livejournal.com]

It certainly is. Give 'em a roast and hold a fork to their gullet.

[fredlums.livejournal.com]

Please check that they eat onions. We have one veggie family member who hates them! Life, difficult yes!

[trav28.livejournal.com]

Houmus and crudites?