Favorite non-meat main dishes?

[mollyanne]

Please use this thread to share your favorite non-meat main dishes. If you have a recipe to share that would be great, but even just your ideas are welcome.

Stuffed Baked Acorn Squash makes a hearty main dish that is meatless. Make your favorite cornbread stuffing, add in some celery, onions, cranberries and mushrooms. Salt and pepper the acorn squash halves, (drizzle the flesh of the squash first with a little maple syrup if you want) then stuff the halves and bake at 350.

 

[jet]

I don't do a lot of meatless days, but I do a lot of less meat days. Most days the only meat I consume is a sprinkling of bacon bits on whatever entree I make for dinner.

 

[GB]

Thank you everyone for these great suggestions!

Alix, I love quinoa. I actually just posted a quinoa salad recipe here. I wonder how similar it is to yours.

 

[Linux]

This recipe originated from Yotam Ottolenghi which we make a lot of.

Quinoa salad with dried Iranian lime

​

This was inspired by a dish at Orna And Ella, a favourite cafe in Tel Aviv. Small dried limes (or lemons) are a regular feature in Iranian cooking, adding a sharp tang to marinades, stews and salads, and a perfumy, sweetish aroma. Trouble is, they're rock solid and hard to grind. In stews, puncture the limes and put them in whole; or buy them in powder form, although that isn't as pungent. To grind them yourself, a spice or coffee grinder is your best bet. I get my dried limes online at thespiceshop.co.uk and maroque.co.uk; they're also sold in Middle Eastern grocers. If you can't get them, use sumac or lemon zest instead. Serves four to six.

2 medium sweet potatoes (about 12oz/ 350g each)
7 tbsp olive oil
Salt and black pepper
7oz /200g mixed basmati and wild rice (this mixture is widely available)
7oz /200g quinoa
4 garlic cloves, peeled and very thinly sliced
3 tbsp shredded sage leaves
3 tbsp roughly chopped fresh oregano leaves
2 tbsp ground Iranian lime
6 tbsp shredded fresh mint
4 spring onions, green part only, thinly sliced, plus extra to garnish
1 tsp lemon juice
about 5½oz /160g feta, broken into chunks

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Peel the sweet potatoes and cut roughly into 2cm dice. Spread on an oven tray lined with greaseproof paper, drizzle with half the oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 20-25 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, cook the rice as per the packet instructions. Put the quinoa in a pan with lots of boiling water and simmer for 10 minutes.

Drain into a fine sieve and leave to dry. Put the cooked and dry (but still warm) rice and quinoa in a large mixing bowl.

Heat the remaining oil in a small frying pan, then fry the garlic for 30 seconds, or until it turns light golden. Add the sage and oregano, and fry, stirring, for about a minute - make sure the herbs and garlic don't burn.

Tip the contents of the pan over the rice and quinoa, then stir in the roasted sweet potato and its oil. Add the dried lime, mint, spring onion, lemon juice, feta and salt and pepper, toss together gently, taking care not to mush up the sweet potato and feta, taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve warmish, or at room temperature, garnished with spring onion.

 

[GB]

That sounds delicious Linux.

 

[Linux]

It is very lovely, a popular dish in our brasserie. Though a very meat-orientated scoffer, I simply adore quinoa, also rice and couscous, such versatile grains.

 

[Alix]

Thank you everyone for these great suggestions!

Alix, I love quinoa. I actually just posted a quinoa salad recipe here. I wonder how similar it is to yours.

I'll go look. Want me to post mine in here?

 

[Alix]

Very different! Here is mine.

 

[GB]

Oh that sounds sooooo good Alix. Thanks!

 

[Alix]

I can't stop eating it. It is killer good. Very filling too! Let me know how it goes over in your house.

 

[Alix]

GB, since it is squash season, I'm thinking you could hollow out a squash or two, fill with quinoa, onions, veggies and maybe top with cheese?

I'm in the mood to experiment soon!

 

[GB]

That sounds great too Alix!

 

[LPBeier]

Having been a die-hard vegetarian for about 8 years and then finding out I needed some protein that only red meat could provide, I learned to juggle the two. I even have my meat and potatoes Dad enjoying some of the "meatless" dishes I make (but don't call it vegetarian )

Pasta is of course a staple and I do several different sauces, often incorporating cannelli and/or black beans or lentils. I use tomato, squash (see other thread), cream, stock, etc. as my base and go from there.

Stir fries are another way I go meatless. When I do, I add lots of variety to the regular vegetables with baby corn, water chestnuts, mushrooms and baby bok choy is a staple here.

I agree with Alix on Quinoa. I came up with a skillet dish including black beans, corn and quinoa that is packed with goodness and flavour. Let me know if you would like the recipe.

 

[GB]

I would love it Laurie!