Best gourmet vegetarian entree?

[bif]

We're in a gourmet dinner groupo. And we decided we might do a veg. dinner since one of the couples is Jewish. So it would be easy to do a vegitarian dinner. We try to impress each other. So let me have your best recipe.

[emmajane67]

1. Any particular style of food in mind? n/t

[bif]

6. Nope. We're wide open at this point

Although, the entree will dictate the rest of the menu. We do try to outdo each other in terms of gourmet recipes.

[pokerfan]

2. Szechwan braised tofu

I'm not a vegetarian but it's one of my favorite dishes. M-55 at my local Chinese restaurant. I don't know how to make it but I'm sure you could google up some recipes.

[NMMNG]

3. General Tso's Tofu

:9

[Road Scholar]

4. Grilled vegies (skewers).

Just a little olive oil, season to taste.

[NoSunWithoutShadow]

5. It's not really gourmet, but this veggie lasagna is delicious.

Served with a great fresh salad and good bread.

I use the No-Boil lasagna noodles, it makes it so much easier. I don't even par boil them. The moisture is the dish cooks the noodles perfectly.

For easy cleanup, assemble in a disposable 8-inch aluminum-foil pan. Make it ahead and deliver uncooked with baking instructions.

Spring Vegetable Lasagna
From

http://food.cookinglight.com/cooking/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=226461

Because this lasagna is packed with fresh vegetables, there may be extra moisture in the bottom of the dish after it bakes.

Cooking spray
8 cups torn Swiss chard (about 3/4 pound)
2 cups chopped yellow squash
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup shredded carrot
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon butter
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
6 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1 cup fat-free ricotta cheese
1 cup fat-free cottage cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) grated Asiago cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
6 no-boil lasagna noodles (such as Barilla or Vigo)

Preheat oven to 375°.
Heat a Dutch oven coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add chard, squash, onion, bell pepper, carrot, and salt; saute 10 minutes or until tender.

Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic; saute 30 seconds. Add flour, and cook 1 minute. Stir constantly with a whisk. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until blended. Cook until thick (for about 4 minutes). Remove from heat; add 1/4 cup Parmesan. Stir until cheese melts.

Combine ricotta, cottage cheese, 1/2 cup Asiago, and oregano in a bowl.

Spread 2 tablespoons milk mixture in the bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 2 noodles over milk mixture; top with half of ricotta mixture, half of vegetable mixture, and 1/2 cup milk mixture. Repeat layers, ending with noodles. Spread remaining milk mixture over noodles. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup Asiago cheese and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake at 375° for 45 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings

NUTRITION PER SERVING
CALORIES 308(30% from fat); FAT 10.3g (sat 5.9g,mono 2.6g,poly 0.7g); PROTEIN 25.8g; CHOLESTEROL 53mg; CALCIUM 495mg; SODIUM 865mg; FIBER 3.3g; IRON 2.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 30.8g

[Bossy Monkey]

7. If this book is in your local library,

http://www.worldcatlibraries.org/wcpa/top3mset/82aa054a7c6ec458.html it has a terrific spanakopita recipe. Come to think of it, it isn't called spanakopita, but something like Spinach and Cheese in Filo Dough (under the Filo Pastry listing). If you're interested (and can't find the book) I can type it out; I am reasonably skilled.:)

[KurtNYC]

8. I made a list of convertible vegetarian dishes a while back

because I was trying to meal plan for a mixed group that included vegetarians. The list is at home but let me see what I remember coming up with:

Vegetarian / Non-Veg
Ceasar Salad / Grilled chicken ceasar salad
Pizza with bell pepper, carmelized onions / add chicken or kosher sausage
Coconut curry with potatoes, peas, carrots, onion and basil / add chicken*

I had a bunch more...not feeling as creative at the moment I guess.

* for gourmet point serve in coconut shells



Coconut Masaman (yellow) curry
2 lb yukon gold potatoes (boil whole for 20 minutes then cut bite sized)
1 lb carrots, sliced (boil breifly with the potatoes to soften)
1.5 lbs white or spanish onion, sliced thin and carmelized
1/2 lb snow peas
2 cans of coconut milk
1 small can of yellow curry from Thailand
1 lb skinless chicken (breast or thighs or a mix)

Boil the potatoes and carrots for 20 minutes then set aside to cool and cut.

Slice onion(s) thin and carmelize in olive oil or butter. Briefly sear chicken in same pan used for onions, then set aside before cutting bite sized. The chicken will be raw in the middle at this point but don't worry...

Combine curry paste, coconut milk, onions, potatoes and carrots in 4 quart sauce pan. Divide as appropriate to your group, pouring half (?) into a second sauce pan. Add the chicken to the second sauce pan and allow both pans to simmer for 20 minutes or longer. Add raw (washed) snow peas when there are 5 minutes left. Finish with fresh basil cut in julienne.

Great with Texamati rice (which smells like popcorn when it cooks). White wine (Chardonnay or Gewurtz)

[cleveramerican]

9. Grilled cheese sandwich

almost said banana pancakes.

[Scout1071]

10. Eggplant Parmesan.

Any type of pasta dish, sans meat. Maybe even try a pesto pasta dish.

[Flaxbee]

11. ok, call me stupid, but what does being Jewish have to

do with vegetarianism? Are all vegetarians Jewish? If so, I need to convert!

I'm confused :shrug:

[bif]

12. No

It's just that we can't serve meat. And we've done fish a bunch of times.

[LeftyMom]

13. I'm not really into gourmet food myself

but if you get a copy of the Millenium cookbook, they make high-end gourmet food that's all vegan and the restraunt is very highly regarded so it should all be good. I hear the stuff in the Candle Cafe cookbook is also really good for impressing people. I do like to bake, so I know that a good cookbook for impressive vegan desserts is Sinfully Vegan. Oh, and a friend of mine has a cookbook coming out soon, next month I think, called Alternative Vegan, which is focused on indian cooking and also has lots of desserts and drink recipes because he's a bit on the decadent side. I can't reccomend that enough, because he's a genius with food. You might also want to browse at www.vegweb.com there arec plenty of things there that would work, especially with artful presentation.

[bif]

14. Thanks, that's a cool site!

[kwassa]

15. Matzoh ball soup

[yewberry]

16. Are you trying for kind of high-end?

Maybe something like a cashew loaf with a lettuce/baby pea/mint salad?

A big ravioli stuffed with squash/ricotta/little bit of sauteed onion with a wine & julienned vegetable sauce? That'd be good with fried sage leaves, too.

Maybe a curried coconut milk soup with mushrooms, squash & a little pasta? That might work with some samosas.

You could do a nice sort of N. African stew with garbanzos & garam masala.


I'd offer recipes, but I gotta go lie down now. I'll check in later.

[emmajane67]

17. Just made it back to this thread.

I've a couple of ideas:

1st Italiany: You could have an entree of buffalo mozerella, plum tomoato and basil salad or gazpacho or bruchetta or a couple of those, followed by mains of my fantastic specialty pasta (pasta is a safe vege food for non veges, it is accessable, not to freaky). Get some HUGE shell pasta, cook it, get a couple of aubergines and roast them up so they are all squishy and nice, cook up some mushrooms and spinach too. Stuff the pasta shells with the aubergine, maushroom, spinach and blue cheese then put the shells into a baking dish and splash some pasata over them, with roast garlic, basil etc and if you feel even more cheesey some mozerella on top and bake for a bit, just until hot. Serve with a Roquette or spinach salad with balsamic reduction (basically where you boil down some balsamic dressing so it goes a bit caramelly) and maybe some pesto bread.

2nd Thai fusion sort of thing: I made this for my folks the other day. Entree of dumplings, summer rolls etc followed by a salady thing, layer in this order in a bowl for each guest: Pak choy, baby corn and sugar snaps (or mange tout) quickly braised in soy sauce (or teriyaki marinade), then sliced peppers (of all different colours), red onion, mango, coriander, fine peelings of carrot, green chilli, lemongrass and ginger. Serve with a slice of lime next to the bowl and some green chilli slices for those who want more spice. I then served mine with Quorn chicken on top and my folks with organic wild salmon steaks all of which had been sitting for a couple of hours marinading in (put all this in a mortar and pestle and mash it up) green chilli, lemon grass, ginger, garlic and lime. Next to this I served a bowl of Tom Yam Broth which you can either eat seperately or pour over the salad like you would with a Bun Xa dish.

Hope this helps.

:)