Entertaining a vegetarian.

Try the Vegetarian website for lots of recipes and ideas, I think it is
www.vegsoc.org

Not if you are me Anno, I am a strange person who hates vegetables unless in a casserole or mixed so fine I cannot see them (probably never passed the toddler stage :/) I understand what you are saying tho.

Thank you all - I have been cooking fish for about 50 odd years, so I don't think I will be overcooking it! Anno is very easy to please and I am going to enjoy trying out a couple of new dishes. We will be staying in a small hotel in Italy for a couple of nights and probably meeting Juragran in Lausanne for lunch one day, so we will be eating out quite a bit. (I live quite close to both the Italian and Swiss borders, south of Lake Geneva).
Last time she stayed with me we were just too late in the afternoon to take the cable car up the Aiguille du Midi, but I will make sure we get to Chamonix in good time. It takes you as high up Mont Blanc as non-climbers can get.
It is snowing thickly here at the moment, but I am hoping mid-May will be warm and sunny.

Your friend is a Piscatarian (eats fish no meat) which my daughter was and it's very easy cooking for them. My daughter loved salmon, and rainbow trout as are most fish just don't over cook. Steam a selection of vegetables and the jobs a good one.
I have a friend who is a Vegan and have to say it does need a little more thought.
For her I roast vegetables, potatoes,parsnips,carrots,sweet potatoes, peppers make a sauce with grated carrot, grated onion and non dairy milk and thicken delicious.
She loves this type of food as it is full of flavour.

There is lots of information on the web.

Best of luck

I don't expect a vegetarian to cook meat for me and I like being forced to be a bit more adventurous with my cooking so everybody is happy!

As a veggie, I have an aversion to cooking meat and to the smell of meat cooking in my house. The difference, flower is that whereas a veggie can't eat meat, a carnivore is often quite happy with a well cooked veggie meal.

When I go to vegetarians homes for a meal there is no meat

When a vegetarian comes to my home to eat I always go out of my way to make sure they have suitable food. Mad or what?

Anno

Fine by me, Greatnan. I doubt if anyone would notice I'd disappeared!

Can't go wrong with a risotto. I make them to use up any leftovers.
Recently made one with smoked fish...yum
Loads of recipes online.

I have so many ideas now, I think anno had better stay for a month!

Delia Smith (may her name be forever praised) has a starter called Smoked Fish Creams, that Mr P and I have for brunch every Christmas Day.

If you do 2 per person with some salad and crusty bread (pref granary type) it makes a lovely supper dish.

www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/fish-and-seafood/haddock/smoked-fish-creams.html

When I do a roast dinner for family, I also make a large cauliflower and broccoli cheese bake, which they all enjoy. For me that bake and some other veg and roasties, and maybe sage and onion stuffing, is a very tasty meal.

Thank you, Tracy. My daughter makes vegetable lasagne, even though they are not vegetarians. They like a couple of meat-free days every week.

I used to be a vegetarian for 12 years and never found it difficult to eat delicious food

As your friend eats fish I recommend you make that one or two nights. Vegetarian lasagna is also very simply, as is pasta with vegetables (throw in any you like). Vegetarian/fish curry is also a great dish! Good luck

Thank you Treebee, there will just be the two of us. I always have salmon once or twice a week anyway or other oily fish. My doctor told me it was better than taking fish oil supplements and it certainly tastes better!

I'm a pescatarian too. As your visitor eats fish, meals are easy to do.
I would suggest grilled or baked salmon fillets with asparagus and new potatoes. Add hollandaise if you like.
There are several good Quorn products and Linda McCartney meals that you could substitute for the meat the rest of the family is having.

Faye I don't think my mother considered the vegetables that went with a meal would constitute a meal themselves!

About twenty years ago (where did those years go???) my daughter was working at Bisley while a shooting competition was on. Every day the caterers took great delight in concocting new vegetarian meals for her. They found it a refreshing change after the endless burgers and chips they were cooking for everyone else.

I had lunch with my daughter and grandchildren last week at a hotel in the nearest large town. We chose the hotel because it has a children's playroom. It has a limited menu for vegetarians and for my meal I chose a chicken with guacamole and salad with feta and some chips and asked them to leave out the chicken. My meal consisted of mushy over ripe avocado spread thinly on a piece of white toast, lettuce and three pieces of very thinly sliced tomato on top. I complained and asked where the guacamole and feta was. She said the avocado had spices in it and brought me back some feta. I despair sometimes but after 47 years of being a vegetarian I am very used to crappy meals.

You have all given me some good ideas which I will continue to use when Anno has gone home.
Does anybody else like sliced banana on toast? It sounded strange to me when my sister mentioned it, but now I often have it as a quick and nourishing lunch on wholemeal toast.

I love stilton mushrooms - use big portobello mushrooms, break off the stalks and chop finely with an onion or shallots. Add a knob of butter and microwave for a couple of minutes. When cool, add fresh breadcrumbs, fresh herbs and crumbled stilton cheese - the final mixture should be quite firm. Pack the mixture into the mushrooms and put into a shallow dish with a little melted butter. You can then either bake in a medium oven for 30 minutes or so, or microwave for 5 - 6 minutes. Sometimes I nuke them for 3 or so minutes, then finish them off in the oven. Handy in that you can get it all ready in advance.

Me too, Faye! I often put sautéed mushrooms into a batter mix, and that is a lovely vegetarian addition - carnivores like it too.

I have been vegetarian for over thirty years - don't eat fish either - and it really isn't difficult. I will feed meat eaters, they will feed me. Simple.

I am surprised that some people find vegetarian meals a challenge as meat is only recommended to be eaten three times a week. What I find strange in this country area which I now live in is that many people put meat in everything they make. Such as they make a potato salad but then add ham. Some people around here have BBQs and will only serve meat, no salads, just lots of meat. Salads can be really delicious, especially those with wild rice, pasta salads, salads with avocado and cooked mushrooms etc, and salads can be very boring with just lettuce, tomato and cucumbers.

Deeda didn't your mother have some vegetables in the house. It is easy to feed a vegetarian the same meals if you are cooking meat with three vegetables type of meal, just give them the vegetables. I love roast dinners, I just don't eat the meat nor cook the potatoes or gravy in meat juices.

I'm having a veggie lunch tomorrow. Couscous mixed with chopped parsley, coriander, mint and wild garlic. Then some chopped tomato and mozarella stirred through with pepper salt and lemon juice.
I'm someone who hates salad but I love this for a take to work lunch.

Greatnan be warned that a lot of Italians consider chicken to be a vegetable. No I don't know why either!

When I was still at college we had a cousin come to stay for the night. My mother had cooked a meal ready for her - only to be told that she was now a vegetarian. This was in the days when shops shut at 5.30 so we ended up having to borrow a cauliflower from a neighbour to make cauliflower cheese. My mother was NOT impressed.