Please suggest an easy but special vegetarian dish..

Stuffed peppers are my favourite veggie dish. You can either pre-boil whole ones (cut out the top first and remove the seeds), stuff and then cook in the oven, or slice in halves and roast. Rice and grated carrots, any mushrooms, onions, herbs, any nuts, with the grated cheese/cream cheese added at the end, the possibilities are endless.

A nut roast will go really well with all your vegetables and can be made in advance ready to go in the oven.

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/nut-loaf?amp

Forgot to add, we loved M&S Plant Kitchen Cauliflower Popcorn. My DH is a vegetarian, while I'm a total omnivore.

Home made nut roast:
In a blender, whizz up:
2 Handfuls of breadcrumbs
A handful or two of nuts
Some vegan stuffing mix
Herbs as desired
Tomato puree
Add grated carrot
If they eat eggs, bind mixture with a beaten egg or two; if they are vegan, use a spoonful of flax seed soaked in water (Google "flax egg") for binding;
press mixture really firmly into a greased lined loaf tin - I use the bottom of another loaf tin, with cans and bags of sugar etc weighing it down for an hour or so before baking.
Bake medium heat for about 40 minutes.

Homity pie is a good standby. Can be made a bit in advance too. Basically it’s a shortcrust pastry case filled with mashed potato and whatever other veggies you like. My kids liked mushrooms and peas mixed in. Grated (veggie!) cheese melted on top makes a nice finish. There used to be a vegetarian shop in London called Cranks, it came from their cookbook! Might be able to get a copy on eBay? Good luck with the dinner!

Found the original recipe ! I’ve always played around with the basic recipe

CRANKS’ HOMITY PIE
Ready in: 30 to 60 mins
Cranks’ Homity Pie Recipe: Veggie Magazine
INGREDIENTS
METHOD
300g wholemeal shortcrust pastry
350g potatoes
450g onions, chopped
3 tbsp oil
25g butter or margarine
15g parsley, chopped
100g vegetarian cheese, grated
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp milk
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Many thanks for your suggestions.
Nut roast is my DDs speciality, she used to bring one with her, but these days she is very busy, and I'd like to look after her, not give her work to do. I have made it myself in the past, but it turned out rather dry & dull. Perhaps I didn't have the right recipe.
Roasted peppers I have done before, and that might be what I do this weekend. Homity Pie I have never tried, it sounds delicious, but it's the vegetables everyone will have put into a pastry case. I'd like to give them something extra to replace the meat.
What would be lovely would be a vege dish that is cooked in its own gravy - then I could do proper meat gravy for the rest of us. Ideally something I could make(or buy) beforehand & pop in microwave at the last minute. Oven space is a bit limited

Quorn roast would be simple with some Bisto gravy.

My friends son and his girlfriend cooked her a vegetarian meal last week, she isn't vegetarian herself, which consisted of cabbage 'steak' cooked in lemon and garlic, served with roast mushrooms and mashed spuds. All served with a nut and tofu dressing. She said it was gorgeous.
Cabbage steak is cabbage cut in thick slices but leaving the root on so the leaves stay together. Seasoned etc and roasted in oven.
Maybe you could do similar for everyone and add roast meat for the non veggies, rather than find something separate for them.

Another idea is an hors d'oeuvre made of separate dishes of various veg., cheese, fish, and smoked meat for those who eat meat. A lot of preparation though.
I've been re-reading E. David's French Provincial Cookery.
With some fresh bread that would be a meal for me.
In our veggie days I used to make stuffed cabbage, similar to jusnoneed's suggestion, but a whole cabbage with a chestnut stuffing.

Leeks and quorn pieces in a cream sauce is really easy to do or quorn roast.We usually have a quorn roast if the rest of the family are having roast dinner.

What about mushroom wellington? Puff pastry layered spread with mustard, layered with wilted spinach and then those great big portobello mushrooms. It is delicious, a real filling pie. Lots of recipes online. You can cook it in the oven with the roast potatoes so no bother there. Same veg as everyone else. Oh, and of course, buy the ready rolled puff pastry!

Thanks Gill. I copied that to a post it note.

Main problem for veggies is including enough protein. Dal with plenty of onions fried in butter may help. Or a side dish of pistachio nuts only all the meat eaters would eat them too.

I made a mushroom wellington for my vegan son and his wife last Christmas. They loved it, and it was super easy to make with shop bought puff pastry. I think the recipe I used was on BBC good food.

My brother, who is a vegetarian, says that when you're cooking with veggies, it never hurts to saute a whole onion first and then just add to that whatever you like.

Bosh mushroom Wellington is easy and looks really special you use bought puff pastry sheets.

www.bosh.tv/recipes/portobello-mushroom-wellington
Link to bosh mushroom Wellington lovely with red wine gravy and all the roasties.

I loved the video of the Bosh recipe!

Stuffed mushrooms are nice. The big ones! Cut out stalks and chop,and scrape out the brown bit, and put in a bowl. Add cooked rice. I steam chopped pepper, grated carrot and chopped courgette and add to rice with small tin chopped tomatoes and herbs/seasoning to taste. Little bit of oil in each mushroom and stuff with the rice mixture. Line ovenproof dish with foil, put mushrooms in and pour small amount of water onto foil. Bake @25 minutes in 180C oven. Then top with slices goats cheese/ or cubed feta. Return to oven for further 20 minutes.

PS I have also used lentils instead of rice

I like this recipe - greenann.com/recipe/tomato-ricotta-salad/
Tomato Ricotta Salad
Ingredients:
3 Plum tomatoes
2 oz Ricotta cheese
0,5 oz Arugula
0,5 oz Basil
1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tbsp Balsamic glaze
1 pinch Sea salt
1 pinch Black Pepper
Try)

Ah Cranks! Used to have lunch there often but my OH didn't like it very much because he thought the food all looked a bit beige. I have the Cranks book and the page falls open at Homity Pie which I make often, but with rather more cheese. The French have a similar recipe, but not veggie because they include bacon and they also use leeks and it has a pastry top.

Re veggie - Delia has a good spinach and 4 cheese lasagne which I make when people are coming for lunch (all meat eaters) and it goes down a treat. You can prepare it the day before and leave in the fridge. It takes about 1 hour to cook. I do change the quantities because I make it a particular dish
and it should feed 8.

I'm a fan of the Barefoot Contessa (Food Channel) who has some good ideas. eg if she's doing food for a drinks party she buys 3 things and makes 3 things. Trouble is it can be a bit expensive - for example she'll buy a large chunk of Parmesan for people to carve pieces.

If she is serving cheese for dinner she'll buy one or two large pieces of good cheese and decorates the serving platter with grapes, dried apricots and biscuits. It looks abundant and IMO much better than a cheese board with small pieces of several different cheeses.

Finally Jane Gregson's Vegetable Book, whilst not all vegetarian, has some good veggie recipes.