Help! Vegetarian option

[badger]

So the woman who is volunteering to cater a Valentine's dinner I am in charge of this coming Friday didn't really plan on a vegetarian dinner option for two of our attendees. She did make an effort to make our appetizers all vegetarian (which probably isn't all that difficult).

Anyway, the main dish is chicken with a cranberry sauce, wild rice and vegetable medley. The rice is cooked with chicken broth. I suggested she do vegetable broth, but she wasn't comfortable with that. We will be having a salad before the meal.

There's more to the story but the short of it is that I can't really add any pressure on her regarding this.

So I'm wondering if I can come up something to prepare for them as a vegetarian option. They can still have the veggie medley and salad, but they need something else.

Any suggestions?

[Tim]

Recipe:

Cheese Soufflé
By Mark Bittman
From the How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for iPhone® app

Introduction:

An easy but impressive and delicious dish. Make one large soufflé or make 4 to 6 individual soufflés in 1½‐2 cup ramekins; the cooking time may be reduced by as much as half with the smaller dishes.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter
¼ cup all‐purpose flour
1½ cups milk, warmed until hot to the touch (about a minute in an average microwave)
6 eggs, separated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Dash cayenne or ½ teaspoon dry mustard
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½ cup grated or crumbled cheddar, Jack, Roquefort, Emmental, and/or other cheese
Steps:

Use a bit of the butter to grease a 2‐quart soufflé or other deep baking dish. (Hold off on this step if you're going to delay baking the soufflés until later.)
Put the remaining butter in a small saucepan over medium‐low heat. When the foam subsides, stir in the flour and cook, stirring, until the mixture darkens, about 3 minutes. Turn the heat down to low and whisk in the milk, a bit at a time, until the mixture is thick. Let cool for a few minutes, then beat in the egg yolks, salt, pepper, cayenne, and cheeses. (You can prepare this base a few hours in advance of cooking; cover tightly and refrigerate; bring back to room temperature before continuing.)
About an hour before you're ready to cook, preheat the oven to 375°F. Use an electric or hand mixer or a whisk to beat the egg whites until fairly stiff. Stir about a third into the base to lighten it, then gently—and not overthoroughly—fold in the remaining whites, using a rubber spatula or your hand. Transfer to the prepared dish and bake until the top is brown, the sides are firm, and the center is still quite moist, about 30 minutes. Use a thin skewer to check the interior; if it is still quite wet, bake for another 5 minutes. If it is just a bit moist, the soufflé is done. Serve immediately.
Variations:

Herb and Cheese Soufflé

Add chopped fresh herbs, 1 teaspoon (stronger herbs like marjoram, oregano, tarragon, and thyme) to 2 tablespoons (milder ones like parsley, chive, chervil, basil, dill, and mint); sprinkle into the yolk mixture just before folding in the egg whites.

Pesto Soufflé

Substitute Traditional Pesto for half of the grated or crumbled cheese.

Goat Cheese and Dried Apricot Soufflé

Tangy and slightly sweet—a great brunch dish: Substitute half goat cheese and half grated pecorino or Parmesan for the cheeses. Add ¼ cup each finely chopped dried apricots and pistachios along with the yolks in Step 2.

Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Copyright © Double B Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.

[badger]

Those sound absolutely lovely, but I should have specified I need something that could be prepared ahead, if possible. I will have very limited access to an oven as I will be helping with set up preceding the event.

Something in the crock pot (as in gourmet as it sounds) may be more practical.

[Clementine]

Would a spinach lasagna recipe work? It can be prepared and cooked beforehand, then re-heated just before the event. I can post a delicious recipe if you'd like.

I also have a lot of veggie/vegan stew-type recipes that could be kept warm in a crockpot, but they don't seem as "fancy" as lasagna. This is a really good one: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chickpea_potato_curry/  I usually serve it with brown rice but it can certainly be eaten alone too.

ETA: I should say that I use a *lot* more ginger than that recipe calls for. Probably closer to 2 TBSP than 2 tsp.

[Tim]

Spinach lasagna sounds perfect. Unless they're vegans.

[wombleatwimbledon]

Does it have to be hot?  You could do a yummy pasta salad. I love pumpkin/feta/spinach as a combo

[badger]

I was sort of thinking of a spinach lasagna. I anyone has any good recipes, I'd be interested I'll look online too, though!

[Cool Foot Luke]

I don't know the quantities that I use, since I do it by feel, but I think the recipe is pretty forgiving.

Saute spinach, mushrooms, and garlic together in olive oil. Set aside until it is cool enough to handle. Make quite a bit, you need enough to cover a 9x13 pan twice.

Combine several cheeses (I mix Parmesan, Ricotta (maybe 8 oz), and shredded Mozzarella. Again, you need to cover a 9x13 pan twice.

Make marinara sauce according to your favorite recipe or buy premade (it usually takes me more than a jar) Cover the bottom of the pan with marinara.

Get some no-bake lasagna noodles (I seldom think that the type that you have to cook is worth the effort). Layer on top of the marinara.

Layer 1/2 of veggies, 1/2 of cheese mixture, then more marinara, then another layer of noodles.
Then remaining veggies, remaining cheese mixture, more marinara, then noodles.
Then add another layer of marinara with some fresh basil leaves mixed in, and top with shredded mozzarella . I often slice up some tomatoes to decorate the top, but tomatoes aren't in season now so that's more of an optional thing.

Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or so, depending on the temperature of the ingredients.

Most of all, don't worry....it really doesn't matter what order the layers go in - I personally like to surround the dry noodles with wet sauce and veggies so their flavors leak into them, but I'm not sure if this is the exact order. The only important thing is to make sure that you make enough veggie and cheese mixture to cover your pan twice. It's really ridiculously easy to make and always gets rave reviews.

[badger]

Thanks, CFL!!

[Tim]

Here's Bittman's recipe:

Recipe:

Vegetable Lasagne
By Mark Bittman
From the How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for iPhone® app

Introduction:

At its simplest lasagne is a baked layered dish of pasta, sauce, and cheese; adding some cooked vegetables, like spinach, zucchini, or mushrooms, is a no‐brainer. Make your lasagne with fresh pasta whenever you can; it's traditional and completely delicious. Surprisingly, store‐bought egg roll wrappers work well too. You might also try polenta slices instead of pasta.

If you feel that a lasagne isn't a lasagne without mozzarella, substitute shredded mozzarella for half of the ricotta.

Ingredients:

Salt
1 recipe any fresh pasta, rolled into sheets, or 12 dried lasagne noodles
2 tablespoons softened butter or extra virgin olive oil
2 recipes Fast Tomato Sauce, Meatless “Meat”, or Mushroom Sauce
3 cups cooked spinach, squeezed dry and chopped, or any other chopped vegetable
3 cups ricotta, plus more as needed
2 cups freshly grated Parmesan, plus more as needed
Freshly ground black pepper
Steps:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and salt it. Cut the fresh pasta sheets into long, wide noodles approximately 3 × 13 inches or a size that will fit into your lasagne dish. Cook the noodles (6 at a time for dried noodles) until they are tender but still underdone (they will finish cooking as the lasagne bakes); fresh pasta will take only a minute or less. Drain and then lay the noodles flat on a towel so they don't stick.
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Grease a rectangular baking dish with the butter or olive oil, add a large dollop of tomato sauce, and spread it around. Put a layer of noodles (use 4) in the dish, trimming any overhanging edges; top with a layer of tomato sauce, one‐third of the spinach, and one‐fourth of the ricotta (use your fingers to “crumble” it evenly over top) and Parmesan. Sprinkle some salt and pepper between the layers of tomato sauce and spinach if needed.
Repeat the layers twice and top with the remaining noodles, tomato sauce, ricotta, and Parmesan; the top should be covered with cheese; add more ricotta and Parmesan as needed. (The lasagne may be made ahead to this point, wrapped tightly, and refrigerated for up to a day or frozen; bring to room temperature before proceeding.)
Bake until the lasagne is bubbling and the cheese is melted and lightly browned on top, about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving; cool completely, cover well, and refrigerate for up to 3 days; or freeze.
Variations:

White Lasagne

Seriously rich and delicious: Omit the ricotta and substitute 1 recipe Béchamel Sauce, 11 Ways for the tomato sauce.

Pesto Lasagne

Alternate layers of pesto and tomato sauce or use all pesto: Substitute Traditional Pesto for all or half of the tomato sauce.

Vegan Lasagne

Use puréed tofu: Use Eggless Pasta or dried lasagne noodles; substitute puréed silken or soft tofu for the ricotta and bread crumbs for the Parmesan. Add basil leaves between the layers if you like. Be sure the tomato sauce and spinach are well seasoned. Proceed with the recipe, finishing with a layer of seasoned bread crumbs.

Courtesy of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Copyright © Double B Publishing Inc. All rights reserved.

[merigayle]

How about a salad, likr a quinoa salad with veggies and chickpeas?  Pasta salad or brown rice salad?

[Clementine]

This recipe was a huge hit at our last dinner party.   

Spinach Lasagna from "I'm in the Kitchen, Now What?"

1 TBSP olive oil
2.5 cups button (or white) mushrooms, sliced
1 cup shredded carrots
1 large yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
4 cups tomato sauce
2 10oz boxes frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry <squeeze it a lot!>
3oz cream cheese, softened
1.5 cups lowfat cottage cheese
1 cup lowfat ricotta cheese
2 tsp lemon juice
vegetable oil cooking spray
12 lasagna noodles (recipe calls for oven-ready but I always use regular and cook them)
8oz shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1. Heat olive oil in large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat for about 20 seconds, until it is hot.

2. Add the mushrooms, carrots, onion, and garlic and cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 3 minutes. Stir in thyme. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the tomato sauce. Set skillet aside. <I always cook this filling *way* longer than 3 minutes. Last time I let it simmer for even longer than normal (maybe 15 minutes total? more?) to get rid of some extra moisture and the lasagna came out much less runny than it has in the past. It was really perfect!>

3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine spinach, cream cheese, cottage cheese, ricotta, and lemon juice. Stir the spinach-cheese mixture well and set aside.

4. Cook the lasagna noodles according to package directions, if not using pre-cooked. While noodles are cooking, lightly coat a 13 x 9 baking dish with vegetable cooking oil spray.

5. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

6. Arrange 4 of the lasagna noodles in the bottom of the baking dish.

7. Spoon 1/3 of the spinach-cream mixture over noodles; spoon 1/3 of the mushroom-tomato mixture over the spinach; spoon 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese over the tomato mixture; sprinkle 1/4 Parmesan cheese on top.

8. Repeat the layers in steps 6 and 7 twice. (Lasagna my be prepared up to this point, covered and refrigerated one day in advance.)

9. Bake the lasagna uncovered for 50 minutes, until it is heated through. Serve immediately.

[seattlegirl]

In a similar vein:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/09/butternut-squash-and-spinach-lasagna.html

I have not made this, but I think it looks delicious.

[gebuh]

In a similar vein:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/09/butternut-squash-and-spinach-lasagna.html

I have not made this, but I think it looks delicious.

it does, I'm going to try this tonight, I'll let you know how it turns out.

[diablita]

if the omnivores are being served warm food I would not be happy with a cold salad assuming this is an event that the attendees are paying for.

[gebuh]

In a similar vein:
http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/09/butternut-squash-and-spinach-lasagna.html

I have not made this, but I think it looks delicious.

I made them with a couple of differences.
I used the fresh lasagna sheets - so no pre-boiling.
I roasted the squash first (I think this really added something to the flavor)
I used whole ricotta and pecorino romano instead of parmesan.
added a little cinnamon to the squash sauce and used vegetable broth instead of water.
I put some red pepper flakes in everything.
It was tasty, but there was a little something missing, next time I'll add some other spice to round it out, or maybe it tastes better after it sits overnight.
Overall it was pretty good, I'll def make it again.

[Cool Foot Luke]

I've made a seasonal butternut squash and kale lasagna with a white sauce. It was good, but very, very rich. I liked it but got sick of it before I could get through the entire pan.

[badger]

Thanks, all!

I'm going to go the spinach lasagna route. I need to keep it simple for my own sanity, and I've made spinach lasagna before. I'll bake it right before I leave, wrap it in foil and keep it warm in a crock pot.

[seattlegirl]

I made them with a couple of differences.
I used the fresh lasagna sheets - so no pre-boiling.
I roasted the squash first (I think this really added something to the flavor)
I used whole ricotta and pecorino romano instead of parmesan.
added a little cinnamon to the squash sauce and used vegetable broth instead of water.
I put some red pepper flakes in everything.
It was tasty, but there was a little something missing, next time I'll add some other spice to round it out, or maybe it tastes better after it sits overnight.
Overall it was pretty good, I'll def make it again.

Roasting the squash is a good idea.  Yum!

[caribougrrl]

I know she's volunteering, but not comfortable substituting veg broth for chicken broth?