Help! New Year's Menu (Vegetarian & Meat courses)

[kayraven]

Hello,

I am hosting a NYE dinner and can't really think of anything special, delicious and not painfully difficult.

I need to have a variety of vegetarian and meat (poultry or fish) courses, which would fit different people (haute-cousine adepts and meat'n'potatos kind)..

I've gone through all Jamie Oliver's 30-min Meals sets and a couple of cookbooks, but nothing seems special, affordible and relatively easy.

What I'm sure about:

Starters:
- Caviar tartalettes
- Salad with goat cheese (v)

Dessert:
- Puff pastry with Vanilla Mascarpone Cream (v)
- Chocolate Mousse (v)

Suggestions MUCH appreciated!

 

[merstar]

This is a delicious vegetarian main course - I've made it many times:
VEGETABLE COUSCOUS PAELLA
Vegetable Couscous Paella Recipe at Epicurious.com

 

[CWS4322]

What about doing a sformato? Mary Ann Esposito did a cauliflower one--but one could use broccoli and different cheeses:

Creamy Cauliflower in a Mold - Ciao Italia

I've made this several times (with green onions instead of the leeks). You could use spinach instead of Swiss Chard.

Recipe Details

I've also made this:

Indian Spiced Chickpeas with Rhubarb and Spinach Recipe « Chef Marcus Samuelsson

If you don't have rhubarb in your freezer, there is no reason why you could not substitute celery and add lemon or lime juice for the tartness of the rhubarb. I made it with Swiss Chard instead of spinach. It was very good.
Recipe Details

 

[GotGarlic]

Crab-stuffed flounder ... mmmmm. You can prepare the fish and sauce ahead of time, then combine and bake before dinner.

http://www.cookingfishmonger.com/stuffed-flounder-recipe.html

 

[no mayonnaise]

Just gonna throw out a few totally random suggestions

Roasted vegetable terrine or tart
Vegetarian Turkish dolmas (stuffed vegetables)
Baked brie
Roasted beets with goat cheese
Grilled marinated tofu with some kind of veggie
Seared or grilled shrimp with avgolemono sauce and dill
Salmon with a soy-dijon glaze
Chicken piccata
Shrimp & Grits
Chicken & Waffles

Plenty of great vegetarian recipes on Herbivoracious if none of the suggested are suitable.
Just don't serve your veggie guests a bunch of side dishes whatever you do.

 

[CWS4322]

I've made this vegetable casserole a number of times. I've used soy milk instead of the cream and it works fine. It makes a large (9 x 13) pan. When I invite vegetarians and non-vegetarians, everyone gets vegetarian-same thing if I invite s/one who is gluten intolerant. We all eat gluten free for the evening. Vegetarian lasagna is always a favorite.

Country vegetable casserole - Chatelaine