Over Christmas we enjoyed various buffets with lots of Vegetarian food. We had a buffet with the parents-in-law on the 23rd of December, after attending a wonderful Carol Service and enjoying some mulled wine. This was followed by another buffet - our traditional candle-lit family buffet on Christmas Eve, with hubby, the kids and I. We light the candle just before 'Carols from Kings' starts. Listening to 'Once In Royal David's City' officially signifies the start of the festivities for me and signifies the start of the buffet for all of us. Christmas day featured the main meal as everyone came to us this year, and this was followed by more buffet food on Boxing Day.
As well as the food I had prepared for our veggie buffets, we also enjoyed lots of different cheeses, some freshly baked bread, cold mini quorn sausages, crisps, cooked onion rings, breaded mushrooms, breaded cheese bites, tex mex bean bites, vegetable spring rolls and scooped out potato skins with various veggie fillings.
Below, are three savoury and three sweet dishes which I cooked and prepared over the Christmas period. All of the pictures were taken mid-preparation or serving, so please excuse the haste. We will be cooking more of these delicious treats for our New Year celebrations too!
Cream Cheese and Cucumber Blinis
Shop Bought (or cut circles out of toasted whole pitta bread with a cutter). You can add Cream Cheese and Cucumber, Hummus and Red Peppers, Goats Cheese and Sun-dried Tomatoes, or any vegetarian filling you fancy!
Delia Smith's Vegetarian Sausage Rolls
After a friend made Delia Smith's Vegetarian Sausage Rolls at our local Vegetarian parents group Christmas Party, I just had to make them for our guests over Christmas as they were absolutely delicious. This recipe, which features cheese, onion, cream and herbs makes a great substitute for sausage rolls and these Vegetarian Sausage Rolls were loved by vegetarian and carnivores alike!
Nigel Slater's Stilton Puffs
When I saw these Stilton Puffs featured on Nigel Slater's twelve tastes of Christmas, I couldn't resist making them, as they are so simple to make but taste as though a lot of time and effort has gone into them. I was not left disappointed as they were well loved by family and friends. I left out the Parmesan topping.
Nigella Lawson's Christmas Rocky Road
This Christmas Rocky Road recipe by Nigella Lawson is a firm favourite in our house and is cooked at Christmas time and throughout the year. I just love the ingredients - the ameretti biscuits, the cherries and the marshmallows. I cooked this with youngest and we had a great time melting the chocolate and mixing everything together!
Nigella's Sticky Gingerbread
This Sticky Gingerbread recipe which features in Nigella's Christmas book is another favourite in our house - especially with Hubby who loves it with a hot drink. Featuring lots of black treacle and golden syrup, this recipe looks like molten lava when it goes into the oven, but forms a sticky gingerbread sponge as it cooks. Cooking the gingerbread also leaves the whole house smelling absolutely amazing!
Mince Pies
Inspired by Paul Hollywood in the Great British Bake Off Christmas Special, This is how I made my mincemeat: Mix a jar of mincemeat together with 100g cranberries, two satsuma's - segments cut in half, and one apple, peeled, cored and cut into small pieces. Mix all together and add a little brandy (or orange juice) to the mix. For the pastry, instead of adding salt, add a 1/2 tsp sugar to the mix to make the pastry a little sweeter, and make shortcrust pastry as usual with flour, butter and water. I cut stars out of the pastry to top the Mince Pies and brushed them with beaten egg before they went into the oven. I much prefer these to topping the whole of the pie with pastry as I love being able to see the filling.
So there you are, that's what I cooked over Christmas. How about you? What are your favourite Vegetarian Christmas recipes?
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