Vegetarian sides, but no main course.

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Jorado89

Assistant Cook
Joined
Sep 8, 2008
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2
My turn to do dinner for my roommates and I. We have a vegetarian with us this time around and I am simply at a loss on what to do for a main course.

I can make a decent potato salad, and figured a simple dinner salad (tomato, mixed greens, blue cheese) would make for a good pair of sides, but what to do for a main course? Not too experienced at all this so nothing too complicated, please.
 
We eat meatless meals most days of the week and one of the easier ones is pasta with a red sauce (we like linguine). If you add a loaf of bread that you split, butter and put under the broiler for a couple of minutes, it will be a lovely meal along with your salad. If you want dessert, a dish of sherbet would go nicely, too. I know others will come along with some more suggestions. HTH

BTW, welcome to DC, Jorado! Let us know how dinner turned out.
 
Mexican: Cheese enchilada, bean burrito, guacamole taco, veg chili
Italian: Pasta, stuffed shells, cheese lasagna
Sandwiches: Grilled portabelo mushroom fresh mozzarella tomato, provolone + lettuce+tomato+onions + good seasons dressing
Indian : Matar paneer ( peas and cheese), palak paneer (spinach and cheese), chana masala (chickpeas)
Felafel, grilled veggie wrap, mac and cheese ( not from the box)
soups: mushroom barley, vegetable, split pea
chinese : veg stir fry, lo mein, chow mein

Most of these are relatively easy to make, although some may require a decent amount of spices u may not have on hand, or hard to get ( depending where u live)
I just tried to show you the variety you have to select from, in other words, vegetarians dont only eat tofu and sprouts ( or at least I dont anyway). SO if any of these appeal to you, I can elaborate and find recipes. (make sure they are not vegans, or else some of these recpies dont apply)

Good luck,

larry
 
Pasta seems to be the consensus. So some ideas:

Rigatoni w/ricotta, roasted garlic, sun dried tomato & basil.
Linguini Scampi w/w.o. shrimp
Angel Hair w/pesto sauce
Cheese/squash Raviol w/sage butter
Spaghetti Primavera
Fettucini Alfredo
Linguini Ala Puttanesca w/w.o. anchovies
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Penne Alla Vodka

or a killer

4 Cheese Baked Macaroni

Boy, I'm hungry now! Oh, ...and don't forget the crusty bread.

...... and garden salad
 
If eggs are in, frittata or Spanish tortilla with potatoes, onions and cheeses (just an example... options for fillings are infinite...) would make a lovely, hearty centrepiece of the meal!!
 
All of the above is great, but how vegetarian is your friend? Some do not eat eggs and dairy. So the meal would have to be planed acordingly.
Stuffed portabella mushrooms might be a great idea.
 
Not sure if you eat seafood/fish and chicken, but I'll toss some ideas out there.

Veggie Stir-frys (add shrimp or chicken), fried or steamed rice, (paht thai) noodle, veggie egg rolls, veggie stuffed potstickers, egg foo yung, soup, salad

Veggie Pizza

Quiche, soup, salad & fruit

Eggplant - stuffed, rollatini, parmesan, etc. I make eggplant balls (in place of meatballs), w parsley, eggs, bread crumbs & cheese - then fry & serve over pasta.

Veggie lasagna with white sauce

Pasta + any veggies of choice.

Croquettes - tuna, chicken, or salmon and white sauce. over buttered parslied noodles.

Couscous salad with cukes, feta, mint, tomatoes etc.

Main dish Salads:
Cobb, panzanella, waldorf (add chicken), crab or shrimp Louis, nicioise, Caesar

Spaghetti Squash

Fish tacos & fries

Perogies with sauteed onions, butter & sour cream

Ravioli or Tortellini Salad
Zesty Ravioli Salad
 
It's easy to get too 'cheesey' when cooking vegetarian. For that reason, I would avoid anything like pizza or lasagne. Stir fries and pasta are good bets as are dishes centered around beans, lentils, etc. Much Indian food is naturally vegetarian.

Also, if you want to be creative, there are loads of good veggie blogs out there. Mine is myveggiekitchen.blogspot.com. There are loads more here. vegweb.com is a recipe sight too.
 
Another thought, in many parts of the world, a bunch of sides <is> the meal. You could pick a theme and just have a variety of dishes, many could be made ahead of time.

Great links, Vyapti. Thanks for sharing. Liked almost every recipe I've tried from vegweb. Find myself eating less & less meat per week.

Thanks. There are some really good blogs, and creative bloggers out there. Once I learned a few tricks, I was stunned at the variety in my cooking as a veg-head =)
 
Wow - Larry had all my ideas before I even thought them :ermm:

Vyapti is right - sometimes having a lot of side dishes is a great idea!



(have you made sure, as others have suggested, to find out what type of vegetarian you're hosting? If they're vegan, you may have to start over at square one, since you cannot use any animal products/byproducts of any type)
 
I've had to make do with a vegan guest a few times ... So .... what I do is make sure that person can make a meal out of the sides, and not put anything in them that doesn't work for them (that is to say, no bacon, worcestershire sauce, etc). Then they can skip the meat or cheese or eggs or whatever that might be the main meal and still get a good meal. Meatless meals aren't that difficult, but when you're cooking for a vegan and another with diverticulitis (as I have many times), yes, provide a few things that they can eat, but you can't make the entire meal centered on their unusual needs/desires.

That said, a Mexican buffet is great. "Taco shells", flour tortillas, tortilla chips, lots of fresh chopped veggies (shredded lettuce, cabbage, diced tomatoes, cucumbers and onions), cilantro, salsas (right out of the jar, maybe one green and one red), beans, ground beef, shredded cheese, maybe some sour cream. The vegetarians can easily make a taco or burrito without the meat, vegans can skip the cheese, people can make a taco salad. Everyone puts together their own meal and has fun doing it.
 
I've had to make do with a vegan guest a few times ... So .... what I do is make sure that person can make a meal out of the sides, and not put anything in them that doesn't work for them (that is to say, no bacon, worcestershire sauce, etc). Then they can skip the meat or cheese or eggs or whatever that might be the main meal and still get a good meal. Meatless meals aren't that difficult, but when you're cooking for a vegan and another with diverticulitis (as I have many times), yes, provide a few things that they can eat, but you can't make the entire meal centered on their unusual needs/desires. . .
Coming from a vegan perspective, I appreciate the effort when someone is cooking for me, but I don't want them to feel that they have to fret over me and I certainly don't want to impose my food choice on everyone else. If there's something available, I'm happy. Also, it is very common to have some 'just in case' food stashed away somewhere anyway.
 
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