Vegetarian dinner party

[Anonymous]

I'm throwing a vegetarian dinner party this weekend. All middle aged women, about half of whom are vegetarian. No one will mind the lack of meat.

Trying to cook mostly seasonally. Tell me what you think of my menu so far?

--Butternut squash soup either in sourdough bread bowls or with sourdough bread
(ALTERNATIVE: could be homemade pasta with butternut squash sauce)
--Veggie fritters (probably something seasonal like root veggies--will see what comes in the farm share box)
--Cannellini bean and feta fritters
--Dipping/drizzling sauces for fritters (horseradish dill, some kind of fruit/miso/ginger)
--Creamed greens
--Some kind of fruit salad? Maybe apple/orange/fennel to stay seasonal? Really lacking inspiration here, but need something to balance all the heavy/creamy/carby foods above.

Also need to figure out dessert. Maybe one of these:
--creme brulee
--fruit tart
--chocolate fondue

(And if you happen to find yourself a guest at this dinner party, let's just keep it our secret that we were both reading/posting on DCUM during the work day?)

[Anonymous]

Not a fan, but its your party/your choice and I'm a vegetarian.

[Anonymous]

I like it, especially the balance of flavors. What are we drinking?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not a fan, but its your party/your choice and I'm a vegetarian.

What could I add or substitute that would give you something you'd enjoy eating? I aim to please!!

[Anonymous]

I made this as a fun thanksgiving side at a mostly vegetarian thanksgiving dinner, and everyone loved it. It's a different way to use squash and any root veggies you think you might get. No snark, but I think butternut squash soup is over done these days.

https://www.ediblela.com/news/ottolenghis-butternut-orange-and-sage-galette

You could use a store bought pastry or even turn the roasted veggies into stuffed puffed pastries and I bet they'd be great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I like it, especially the balance of flavors. What are we drinking?

Great question!! Wine? Sangria? What we at our house call "party beer"--the random accumulation of singleton cans/bottles that we tend to offer to guests?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I made this as a fun thanksgiving side at a mostly vegetarian thanksgiving dinner, and everyone loved it. It's a different way to use squash and any root veggies you think you might get. No snark, but I think butternut squash soup is over done these days.

https://www.ediblela.com/news/ottolenghis-butternut-orange-and-sage-galette

You could use a store bought pastry or even turn the roasted veggies into stuffed puffed pastries and I bet they'd be great.

Love this idea! I make a **lot** of savory tarts and gallettes (two in the last four days!), but wasn't considering one for this dinner because I'm so darn enthusiastic about sourdough right now. I've got to figure out whether my desire to make sourdough overrules all other considerations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm throwing a vegetarian dinner party this weekend. All middle aged women, about half of whom are vegetarian. No one will mind the lack of meat.

Trying to cook mostly seasonally. Tell me what you think of my menu so far?

--Butternut squash soup either in sourdough bread bowls or with sourdough bread
(ALTERNATIVE: could be homemade pasta with butternut squash sauce)
--Veggie fritters (probably something seasonal like root veggies--will see what comes in the farm share box)
--Cannellini bean and feta fritters
--Dipping/drizzling sauces for fritters (horseradish dill, some kind of fruit/miso/ginger)
--Creamed greens
--Some kind of fruit salad? Maybe apple/orange/fennel to stay seasonal? Really lacking inspiration here, but need something to balance all the heavy/creamy/carby foods above.

Also need to figure out dessert. Maybe one of these:
--creme brulee
--fruit tart
--chocolate fondue

(And if you happen to find yourself a guest at this dinner party, let's just keep it our secret that we were both reading/posting on DCUM during the work day?)

Sounds good. Some more choices JIC.
As a middle aged vegetraian woman - I try to think what my middle aged GI system can tolerate!

-

- butternut soup with crotons (people can control if they want carb or not unlike the bread bowl).
- zuccini noodles/pasta (zoodles?) with a nice store bought sauce
- cauliflower steaks or roasted veggies drizzled with olive oil
- fried banana fritters or one of your fritters with the sauce
- salad - spinach salad with beet, walnuts, apples and feta

Dessert -
All your choices sounded good.

[Anonymous]

Fritters sound more like appetizers. Do you have a main dish planned?

[Anonymous]

Vegetarian here and I think you need more protein than one fritter with cannellini beans and feta. You could do a quiche or frittata with roasted fall vegetables, quinoa stuffed acorn squashes, a hearty vegetable stew with beans or seitan, or offer some kind of a nut-based appetizer or dessert.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Vegetarian here and I think you need more protein than one fritter with cannellini beans and feta. You could do a quiche or frittata with roasted fall vegetables, quinoa stuffed acorn squashes, a hearty vegetable stew with beans or seitan, or offer some kind of a nut-based appetizer or dessert.

All great ideas! I also could do a more protein oriented soup since it sounds like folks aren’t excited about the butternut squash soup. (To be clear, I wasn’t going to limit folks to a single fritter, but I take the larger point that if the fritters aren’t their thing, there’s no other protein option.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Vegetarian here and I think you need more protein than one fritter with cannellini beans and feta. You could do a quiche or frittata with roasted fall vegetables, quinoa stuffed acorn squashes, a hearty vegetable stew with beans or seitan, or offer some kind of a nut-based appetizer or dessert.

All great ideas! I also could do a more protein oriented soup since it sounds like folks aren’t excited about the butternut squash soup. (To be clear, I wasn’t going to limit folks to a single fritter, but I take the larger point that if the fritters aren’t their thing, there’s no other protein option.)

I would be thrilled by this menu, including the soup.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fritters sound more like appetizers. Do you have a main dish planned?

I tend to find that vegetarian meals work better tapas style than meat-and-three style (because so many vegetarians don’t like meat substitutes and the standard vegetarian mains—eggplant parm, etc—are so tired). So my main goal is just to make sure all the food groups are represented, and no one will leave hungry. I take the PPs point that there may not be enough protein, so I’ll consider adding more. Maybe deviled eggs or mini-quiches. I wonder if a nut-based dipping sauce would help?

[Anonymous]

I like the idea of a pasta.

If eggplant parm is boring, look up recipes for eggplant and zucchini lasagna instead. You can bake a full pan like regular lasagna or make individual stacks.

[Anonymous]

On Thanksgiving I made a butternut squash hummus from Ina Garten. It does have chickpeas in it so there's protein. It wasn't difficult to make and everyone seemed to like it. I toasted some naan to serve it, but jicama, red/orange/yellow bell peppers could work too.