Easy veggie recipes

[tom]

Originally Posted by Kirstie

Fair point

Have you always been a vegetarian? If not, be honest, are the substitutes as good as the 'real thing'? Do you miss anything?

Probably fully veg for about 10-11 years now. No red meat for about 15-16 - red went first, then chicken, then fish. Tuna took a long time to drop off the menu. Last thing[1] I ate was a lobster baked with ginger.

I don't see anything I eat as being a meat substitute - it's just food that doesn't happen to be meat. I don't go out and try, for example, to find something that resembles a steak. So, some meat free products are pleasing to eat, and others (mainly all the stereotyped nut cutlet stuff) are crap IMHO. There's a lot more variety on the market now though, vegetarian food is mainstream nowadays.

To be honest I don't miss anything. If I did then I'd eat it. I occasionally think about going back to fish, but I don't think I will.


[1] technically the last think I ate was a fly that flew into my mouth while I was our running. yuk.

[Clare Gledhill]

Multi coloured peppers, slices of augerbine and sweet chillies and goats cheese, drizzled in olive oil and roasted, served with oven baked new potatoes cooked with rosemary and black pepper and tossed green salad.

[tom]

Originally Posted by Stesh

And the taste difference on some stuff like sausages and burgers compared to the real burgers which only need a percentage of meat in them, isn't that great and sometimes even taste better.

yep - frankfurters/hot dogs for example can be indistinguishable, mainly because the 'genuine' ones are just full of soya and chemicals with minimal meat content anyway!

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by Stesh

You can be veg for many reasons, one is you don't like meat and therefore you won't like fake meaty stuff either (I knew a lad who didn't like mushrooms because they have a fleshy texture?)

Then there's veggies who miss bacon sarnies and like the taste of meat but not the factory farming side of getting it on the plate.
And the taste difference on some stuff like sausages and burgers compared to the real burgers which only need a percentage of meat in them, isn't that great and sometimes even taste better.

I see. And I can understand the mushroom thing completely, revolting things.

I would badly miss steak, duck and lamb but could happily never eat chicken again for the rest of my life. And, to my shame, I love those cheap, bright pink sausages in sandwiches with brown sauce.

Turbs, however, considers any meal without meat in it to be either unfinished or a side-dish.

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by Clare Gledhill

Multi coloured peppers, slices of augerbine and sweet chillies and goats cheese, drizzled in olive oil and roasted, served with oven baked new potatoes cooked with rosemary and black pepper and tossed green salad.

Marry me.

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by tom

Probably fully veg for about 10-11 years now. No red meat for about 15-16 - red went first, then chicken, then fish. Tuna took a long time to drop off the menu. Last thing[1] I ate was a lobster baked with ginger.

I don't see anything I eat as being a meat substitute - it's just food that doesn't happen to be meat. I don't go out and try, for example, to find something that resembles a steak. So, some meat free products are pleasing to eat, and others (mainly all the stereotyped nut cutlet stuff) are crap IMHO. There's a lot more variety on the market now though, vegetarian food is mainstream nowadays.

To be honest I don't miss anything. If I did then I'd eat it. I occasionally think about going back to fish, but I don't think I will.


[1] technically the last think I ate was a fly that flew into my mouth while I was our running. yuk.

So, am I better creating a dish from scratch than going for a meat-substitute? From what you and others have said, it would appear the majority of meat-free 'meat' products aren't up to much.

[tom]

Originally Posted by Kirstie

So, am I better creating a dish from scratch than going for a meat-substitute? From what you and others have said, it would appear the majority of meat-free 'meat' products aren't up to much.

Up to you. Don't make too big a deal of it. Vegetarians aren't freaks you know.

Just make something that you personally would enjoy eating that doesn't happen to have meat in it. Clare's idea sounds good.

edit: forgot to say, Curry. Curry is always good. Lots of curry dishes without meat.

[Kirstie]

Originally Posted by tom

Up to you. Don't make too big a deal of it. Vegetarians aren't freaks you know.

Just make something that you personally would enjoy eating that doesn't happen to have meat in it. Clare's idea sounds good.

This one is.

Clare's idea does sound delicious.

[Woz]

Quorn is a brilliant product. It's basically the crap at the bottom of homebrewed beer. They make it in big clear bubbling vats of liquid then bung it in a centrifuge and spin the solid stuff out. It then looks just like bread dough but is completely tasteless. Then it goes into a big mixer and the flavourings are added. After that it's extruded into various shapes and cooked in big steamers. Bizarrely if they make the shapes too "perfect" the customers don't like it so they deliberately make it a bit raggedy.

I've been round the factory a couple of times and out of all the food factories I've been in, I'd be more than happy to eat Quorn. They're very careful over the quality of their product and it's an amazing place- a huge factory that's one massive fridge. It's effing freezing. Oh and all the flavourings go through a bit of my company's kit to sift out all the bits that shouldn't be in there like nuts and bolts and rat shit.

Anyway. Veggie dish.

Parsnip risotto. It's bloody lovely. Make a risotto. Add small parsnip cubes fried in a seperate pan. Mmmmmmmmmm.

[stick_slinger]

Hi,
I agree with Tom.

I'm not a vegetarian though my wife is. Sometimes we'll have seperate things to eat but other times we'll both have vegetarian.

I think the Quorn products are great - and they're really good for you too. Realeat do a fab "mince" as well which I think is nicer than the Quorn version and makes a wicked spag bol or chilli. Then again, Quorn do a swedish style meatball which makes a great spaghetti and meatballs.

My wife absolute favourite though is a Leek and Gruyere tartlet from M&S - and they are yum too.

Have a good night

J