Vegetarian suggestions......... PLEASE!

[Coco]

We have some guests arriving at our B&B on Friday for seven nights.  They have asked for a meal on arrival and then told me the wife is a veggie.  They didn't say whether she eats fish and/or cheese and eggs - I have emailed to ask but have not had a response yet.

I'm afraid I'm a bit of a veggie-phobe (dinner without meat or fish??? ) but am sure I'll be able to come up with something for Friday.

My main concern is that, certainly around this area,I know of no restaurants who serve a vegetarian option whatsoever.  So after TRYING to eat out on Saturday they may well start asking for a few more meals in-house.

Any suggestions of what I can serve up would be EXTREMELY gratefully welcomed!

[Hoddy]

Do you have a copy of Delia Smith's Christmas Book ?

I can recommend the Cheese and Parsnip Roulade.

Hoddy

[Punch]

I think firstly you need a very quick answer from you guests as to what exactly they do and don't eat. There are so many different interpretations of the term vegetarian. My wife is has been "vegetarian" for the last 20 years or so, and so I have got used to eating less meat than I would probably otherwise, although she does eat fish ,eggs and dairy produce, but not any meats at all. Living here for 8 years now it never has been a problem eating out or in.

So without knowing their preferences it is difficult to know what to suggest, but we tend to eat a lot of fresh veg, pastas, oily fish, spicy veg, main course salades. Other dishes to consider; dishes with chestnuts, olives, vegetable couscous, mushroom risottos, warm rice salade. probably a bit too late but I would particularly recommend Rose Elliots Vegetarain Fast Food ISBN 000412729.

You could do her Ultimate red bean chilli dish which may go down well, or her red bean burgers with sour cream sauce.

Paul

 

[zeb]

LOL - reminds me of the veggie friends who stayed with us a couple of years back. We rang the local restuarant to book and spoke to the chef about vegetarian options. He said no probs, he really enjoyed vegetarians coming to eat and found it a welcome challenge. We duly turned up and they were presented with a starter of mixed green salad, main course arrived and it was a larger plate of mixed green salad with fried lardons on top!!

When they eat here I usually do a veggie pasta or mushroom chow mein but I've also found that spinach and ricotta filo parcels (or large stuffed mushrooms) go down well as you can mix in salmon for the non veggies and make them as large or a small as you like, depending on whether it's a starter or main course, and serve with salad, pasta or crunchy veg and potatoes.

Loads of super recipes on the internet if you do a search. Good luck........I'm a bit like the chef above and find it enjoyably challenging but I do try a bit harder!!

 

[Lesbatees]

You will need to know how she defines "vegetarian". Some stricter veggies would not, for example, eat cheese that has been made using animal rennet, so cheese is out in most cases.

If you find out what she will and will not eat I can send you some receipes, or post them here.

Val

[Darren, Vicky and Amelia]

Hello

 

My husband and daughter are both vegetarians. At 1st I was so daunted by cooking without using fish or meat. Now it has become part of daily life to cook 2 different meals. Restaurants in France don't understand why someone is a veggie. They think that they are almost weird for not eating meat or fish. They must state when they go out to eat that they do not eat, meat and fish, also be aware that often when is says vegetable soup it is oftern made with maet or fish stock.

For yourself cooking there is alot of options for yourself to cook. Pasta always goes down well. A veggie curry, Veg lasagne, veg moussaka, mushroom and chill carbonara, stuffed peppers, toms and aubergines. I have a lovely recipe for Green lentil Kulbyaka. Its a lentil and rice pie, but so delicious. If you want email me and i can copy the recipe for you. also in my books i have a few recipes for them if they do not eat dairy. Let me know.

Bonne Chance!!

Vicky

[Russethouse]

Feta & Mint Frittata

6 eggs

150ml semi skimmed milk

3 medium courgettes - grated

10gr mint - chopped

150 gr Light Feta, drained and crumbed

1 tsp olive oil

Preheat grill to medium

Beat eggs & milk together, season to taste. Add courgette, mint and half the feta.

Heat oil in non stickpan, pour in egg mixture and cook over a low heat for 8 - 10 mins without stirring or until it begins to set.

Sprinkle the remaining feta on the top and place under grill for 2 -3 mins until golden. Leave to cool for 3 - 4 mins then slice into thick wedges.

Serve with mixed salad, vine tomatoes and accompany with Sauvignon Blanc

Courtesy of Waitrose recipe card !

[Lizzie15]

[quote]Feta & Mint Frittata6 eggs150ml semi skimmed milk3 medium courgettes - grated10gr mint - chopped150 gr Light Feta, drained and crumbed1 tsp olive oilPreheat grill to mediumBeat eggs & milk together, s...[/quote]

Mmmmm, thankyou Waitrose!!I'm going to try that one-, and none of us are veggies but it looks delicious!

 

[Coco]

Yes Gay

That sounds like a lovely summer lunch, especially the sauvignon blanc bit  And to make things even better, I know that I can get all of those ingredients at our local Champion.  There's nearly always something (as simple as spring onions for example!!) that I can't get when someone gives me a UK recipe.

[Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com]

Hi Coco,

I've said what I have to say about the ethics of asking for a veggie meal in a B&B elsewhere, so I won't say anything about it here.

It's clearly critical whether she eats eggs and fish.  In the absence of reply about fish/eggs, assume she does. It's also clearly important to consider how many others will be at table. Assuming eggs and fish, and others present, then I think you should try not to make a meal that is obviously "made for" a vegetarian. They must get hundreds of them! 

What's wrong with a fish pie? I do one with a variety of fish (smoked fish, cod, a handful of shrimps, parcooked mushrooms , hard boiled eggs in lashings of strongly parslied white sauce, topped with saffron crushed potatoes. The white sauce is partly made from the milk you used to poach the smoked fish, partly from the mushrrom and fish cooking juices and partly milk, seasoned with Marigold veg stock. I know it's very English, but that's no bad thing, especially if your guests are French (70% of ours are).

If she's anti fish too :-((( then a tian is pretty good food. Made like a quiche without the pastry in an earthenware platter called a tian, (mediterranean). You can do it with many of the med. vegetables, like peppers, aubergines, courgettes, etc. Also good with leeks. Obviously there are all the quiches, and there's flamiche as well.

As a very general principle, rememeber that the best non meat food is likely to come from places where meat eating is not part of their culture - eg strict buddhist. So India, Japan, parts of China are all excellent places to look. I've got Madhur Jaffrey's Eastern Vegetarian cooking, and it's STUFFED with good ideas.

Remember pulses. There are some magnificent lentil and bean dishes from the east. You could make 3-4 curries, one meat, the rest non meat (mushroom and black eyed pea curry, dhall, spinach bhaji, for example) . The rest of you can eat the meat, she doesn't have to and it doesn't give the impression of a meal that was organised around her. If I may advise. Avoid the dire and ill tasting veggie burgers, nut cutlets and so on. As far as I can see they are part of the extremes reaches of vegetarian food faddism, where anything good for you HAS to taste nasty! I had some stuff like that in a highly recommended Veggie restaurant in Budapest. Foul, under-seasoned and undercooked. Virtually inedible.

Theres's no point in me posting hundreds of recipes until you have decided what kind of food to do. But remember the principle that you all eat the same, and have fun. Once you know what your constraints are, I'll gladly email you a _packet_ of recipes.

[Russethouse]

I think I will give that Frittata a try myself - with something like that your guest could have some at night and you and Mick finish it off the next day at lunchtime. The same goes for a good, say, roast veggie quiche. You can freeze pulses so you can always put something in the freezer for next time.

My veggie friend had the simple rule of not eating anything that had a face, so she did eat cheeses, eggs etc but not fish, chicken or meat.

I think Punch recommended Ruth Elliot, Sarah Brown is pretty good too.

Mr Russethouse used to be a veggie, but once I made it clear that after a hard days work and a commute (he worked 5 mins away, I had a much longer journey) I was only cooking one meal, oddly his principals deserted him

[Ian Hoare<br>All the best<br>Ian<br>La Souvigne Corrèze<br>http:www.souvigne.com]

Hi Coco,

Just a quickie to say "good luck"!!

And to ask you to tell us what you did finally, and to let us know it went when things calm down.