Temporary Vegetarian

[Generali]

My son, aged 11, has said he wants to do a "3 day vegetarian challenge". I asked him to clarify the rules and they are:

- No bits of dead animal or bird
- Very small amounts of fish okay (think a couple of anchovies or a tbsp thai fish sauce)
- Dairy, eggs etc fine

He'll certainly want to help cook and I want to encourage him to think more about his food and where it comes from.

Any thoughts as to some good recipes? I'm keen that he doesn't miss out on protein and micro-nutrients so to treat the 3 days as if this is how he was going to be eating for the year.

[saechunu]

I'd do simpli-ish one-pot-ish dishes that are all big on flavour. Some suggestions that I like:

1. Nigel Slater's Cheese & Onion Mashed Potato Pie:
http://www.treswell.plus.com/food/s/sti ... o_pie.html
any crumbly cheese works well.

2. Either a Thai or Indian style vegetable curry. I'd do pan roasted cauliflower florets with peas in an oniony, lentil & garlicky sauce made with natural yoghurt, spiced however you like it, fresh coriander etc (I'm assuming you've curry making experience!). Quite 'meaty' tastes from the toasted cauli and the lentils.

3. Puttanesca pasta sauce, recipes everywhere.

These are hearty and tasty dishes, none of which feel like they're missing a meat ingredient.

[foundone]

A frittata is a good healthy choice and easy for children to make http://allrecipes.co.uk/recipes/tag-128 ... cipes.aspx

[redsturgeon]

What does he usually like to eat?

That will give a clue as to the sort of dishes to make.

My daughter is vegan so vegetarian is easy peasy.

John

[UncleEbenezer]

Why not raise the stakes by dropping in the question How close to Vegan can we get? Food for thought, and rising to the challenge could expand all your horizons, regardless of whether you ever succeed, let alone have any intention of sustaining it.

Some staples to consider:
- Can't go wrong with a well-spiced soup. Root veg is great for winter.
- The veggie stir-fry is easy, delicious, and more-or-less anything can go in. Mushrooms add protein; nuts add both protein and texture.
- Veg that can be stuffed. Stuff with beansprouts or nuts, and flavoursome herbs, drizzle olive oil, then bake.
- The hybrid stirfry/curry. For example, a Madras with lentils and mushrooms works nicely.

I confess I often add a little dairy to many of the above. Grate cheese over something before baking, or take a dob of sour cream on top of a soup on the plate.

[redsturgeon]

Why not raise the stakes by dropping in the question How close to Vegan can we get? Food for thought, and rising to the challenge could expand all your horizons, regardless of whether you ever succeed, let alone have any intention of sustaining it.

Some staples to consider:
- Can't go wrong with a well-spiced soup. Root veg is great for winter.
- The veggie stir-fry is easy, delicious, and more-or-less anything can go in. Mushrooms add protein; nuts add both protein and texture.
- Veg that can be stuffed. Stuff with beansprouts or nuts, and flavoursome herbs, drizzle olive oil, then bake.
- The hybrid stirfry/curry. For example, a Madras with lentils and mushrooms works nicely.

I confess I often add a little dairy to many of the above. Grate cheese over something before baking, or take a dob of sour cream on top of a soup on the plate.

I'd agree that going vegan is a better challenge.

- A well spiced soup is fantastic...but I believe Generali is in the Southern hemisphere so maybe Thai spicy soup rather than root veg?

- Yes to veggie stir fry and mushrooms are delicious but contain scant protein. Add pulses or tofu for protein.

- Vegetable curry with lentils and mushrooms...now you're talking.

If going vegan then nutritional yeast flakes can be added to most meals for B12 and other essential B vitamins.

John

[Generali]

I do find it funny that whenever I ask a question on the internet I've always asked the wrong one

I asked The Boy about vegan and he was very specific about what he wanted his "Vegetarian Challenge" to be.

Likes:

Meat 'n' 3 veg
Stir fry
Shepherds pie (his favourite)
Fried rice
Risotto
Pasta dishes of all sorts
Fish
Dim sum
Stew with mash or made into a pie
Chilli con carne
Roast dinner
Home made Southern Fried Chicken
Home made burgers
Asian food ex-Thai (there is a particular sort of Thai food made in Australia that is about as Thai as your local Golden Palace relates to the food made in downtown Beijing)

Dislikes:
Anything too sloppy in consistency
Soup
Mushrooms
Curry
Aussie-style Thai food

I'd rather we make vegetarian food rather than a vegetarian version of something he likes already so I don't really want to do lentil shepherds pie or something as I think he'll just think it an unimpressive version of what he already likes.

Thanks for the input so far.

[redsturgeon]

I do find it funny that whenever I ask a question on the internet I've always asked the wrong one

I asked The Boy about vegan and he was very specific about what he wanted his "Vegetarian Challenge" to be.

Likes:

Meat 'n' 3 veg
Stir fry
Shepherds pie (his favourite)
Fried rice
Risotto
Pasta dishes of all sorts
Fish
Dim sum
Stew with mash or made into a pie
Chilli con carne
Roast dinner
Home made Southern Fried Chicken
Home made burgers
Asian food ex-Thai (there is a particular sort of Thai food made in Australia that is about as Thai as your local Golden Palace relates to the food made in downtown Beijing).

Ok with that list in mind I'd suggest the following;

Stir fry veggies, whatever he like but substitute tofu for meat, same with fried rice and an extra egg in the fried rice. (you know the trick for not making it sticky?)

Pasta with various vegetables and sauces, very easy, mac and cheese seems very popular these days, but simple marinara sauce is delicious.

Moussaka, parmagiana melanzane, veggie pizza, falafel burgers, chilli without the meat, with guacamole and salsa, hummus.

John

[midnightcatprowl]

I'd rather we make vegetarian food rather than a vegetarian version of something he likes already so I don't really want to do lentil shepherds pie or something as I think he'll just think it an unimpressive version of what he already likes.

As a vegetarian I so agree with this!

One of my standard veggie dishes is something I vaguely refer to as a 'layered bake'. Each time it tends to be different depending on what I've got in the fridge and the sort of flavours I'm into at that particular moment. Not difficult to make and they always seem to come out well and they appeal to my liking for experimenting while cooking.

Grease an oven proof dish with butter or oil of your choice

N.B. 'Slices' referred to below do not need to be especially thin.

Put in a base layer of sliced potato or sweet potato.

Cover with a layer of sliced onion of your choice and/or leek and/or garlic.

Continue with layers of whatever sliced veg you like (you can repeat the 'potato' and 'onion' type layers at intervals if wished and depending on how many people you are cooking for) and happen to have available. Carrot, parsnip, radish, turnip, pumpkin/squash, fennel, aubergine, celeraic... mushroom makes a good layer but not as your son doesn't like it. I sometimes include a layer of apple.

Put in a 'protein' layer somewhere along the line. Beans or lentils - a simple layer of baked beans works well, or even a sweetcorn layer - or a nut or nut butter or tahini layer, my last 'bake' had a thin layer of sprinkled ground almonds.

As you layer flavour liberally with herbs, or spices, or chilli or some combination of these. I'm currently heavily into paprika, plain or hot or smoked but I think you like paprika or you don't.

Finish off with a top layer or potato or sweet potato, season - I like to use a good quality tamari soy sauce but plain old salt will do - and very liberally dot on butter or drizzle oil over the top.

Bake uncovered - you are aiming for everything to be cooked through but for the top layer to be crisp at the edges of the slices. Depending on the veg used a little water or stock may need to be added during cooking to keep things just slightly moist.

Could be served with salad, but I normally serve with steamed green veg.

[gryffron]

Tofu and that processed muck marketed as veggie "bacon". That should be enough to put him off the idea for life.

[Generali]

I do find it funny that whenever I ask a question on the internet I've always asked the wrong one

I asked The Boy about vegan and he was very specific about what he wanted his "Vegetarian Challenge" to be.

Likes:

Meat 'n' 3 veg
Stir fry
Shepherds pie (his favourite)
Fried rice
Risotto
Pasta dishes of all sorts
Fish
Dim sum
Stew with mash or made into a pie
Chilli con carne
Roast dinner
Home made Southern Fried Chicken
Home made burgers
Asian food ex-Thai (there is a particular sort of Thai food made in Australia that is about as Thai as your local Golden Palace relates to the food made in downtown Beijing).

Ok with that list in mind I'd suggest the following;

Stir fry veggies, whatever he like but substitute tofu for meat, same with fried rice and an extra egg in the fried rice. (you know the trick for not making it sticky?)

Pasta with various vegetables and sauces, very easy, mac and cheese seems very popular these days, but simple marinara sauce is delicious.

Moussaka, parmagiana melanzane, veggie pizza, falafel burgers, chilli without the meat, with guacamole and salsa, hummus.

John

Cheers John, I forgot to add eggplant on his list of dislikes!

Falafel is a great one. We make marinara sauce with pasta, the family name for the dish is 'speedy pasta' as it's a go to after cubs/concerts/Club Max (don't ask).

[Generali]

As a vegetarian I so agree with this!

It took me years to work that out! It was so obvious once I got it.

One of my standard veggie dishes is something I vaguely refer to as a 'layered bake'. Each time it tends to be different depending on what I've got in the fridge and the sort of flavours I'm into at that particular moment. Not difficult to make and they always seem to come out well and they appeal to my liking for experimenting while cooking.

Grease an oven proof dish with butter or oil of your choice

N.B. 'Slices' referred to below do not need to be especially thin.

Put in a base layer of sliced potato or sweet potato.

Cover with a layer of sliced onion of your choice and/or leek and/or garlic.

Continue with layers of whatever sliced veg you like (you can repeat the 'potato' and 'onion' type layers at intervals if wished and depending on how many people you are cooking for) and happen to have available. Carrot, parsnip, radish, turnip, pumpkin/squash, fennel, aubergine, celeraic... mushroom makes a good layer but not as your son doesn't like it. I sometimes include a layer of apple.

Put in a 'protein' layer somewhere along the line. Beans or lentils - a simple layer of baked beans works well, or even a sweetcorn layer - or a nut or nut butter or tahini layer, my last 'bake' had a thin layer of sprinkled ground almonds.

As you layer flavour liberally with herbs, or spices, or chilli or some combination of these. I'm currently heavily into paprika, plain or hot or smoked but I think you like paprika or you don't.

Finish off with a top layer or potato or sweet potato, season - I like to use a good quality tamari soy sauce but plain old salt will do - and very liberally dot on butter or drizzle oil over the top.

Bake uncovered - you are aiming for everything to be cooked through but for the top layer to be crisp at the edges of the slices. Depending on the veg used a little water or stock may need to be added during cooking to keep things just slightly moist.

Could be served with salad, but I normally serve with steamed green veg.

That sounds like a great idea. I want to make shopping for the food a part of the whole thing so going around and selecting seasonal veg to put in and working out a balance of nutrients and cost and so on will really appeal to him.

He's happy to eat around things and also to retry stuff he doesn't like (excluding Aussie-style, Thai-branded food). He tries eggplant most Sundays with a roast, I'll convert him one day!

[kempiejon]

Spaghetti/linguine with carbonara-ish sauce, just the whisked eggs and hard cheese - you said dairy is fine but real Parmigiano/pecorino contains sheep rennet - do you or your lad have thoughts on rennet? One could replace the cured pork with griddled slices of courgette or red pepper, sweet potato or other veg and some smoked paprika.
I think a full Sunday style roast without meat is a great meal, get a veggie gravy and with a plate of roast potatoes, mashed root veggies, roast onions, parsnip and carrots, sprouts/greens, Yorkshires, sage and onion stuffing - one doesn't miss the couple of slices of chicken/pork etc.
I do loads of meat free salads, you make the meal interesting by having lots of variety, small servings of say a cucumber and kiwi salad, beetroot and mint yoghurt, chick peas in vinaigrette, boiled eggs/pickled eggs, potato salad, coleslaw, oven roasted tomatoes , plenty of leaves and croutons. With half a dozen or more dishes in your repertoire it's easy to have salads a couple of times a week without getting samey. Handy you're in the other hemisphere to me as salads are off the menu currently,

[UncleEbenezer]

Stir fry veggies, whatever he like but substitute tofu for meat, same with fried rice and an extra egg in the fried rice. (you know the trick for not making it sticky?)

Don't substitute tofu unless you have an expert chef. Tofu can be palatable, but it's difficult[1], and if you just treat it as a regular stirfry ingredient you'll get something pretty unpleasant. Even marinating it in preparation doesn't really help. Pulses work better for your protein, and nuts are positively delicious. Cashews are probably the most seamless nuts, but many others are great too (and you can have fun shelling them with, for example, walnuts). Some can be a key ingredient: coconut nicely complements the heat of chilli and/or ginger.

One of my standard veggie dishes is something I vaguely refer to as a 'layered bake'. Each time it tends to be different depending on what I've got in the fridge and the sort of flavours I'm into at that particular moment. Not difficult to make and they always seem to come out well and they appeal to my liking for experimenting while cooking.

Do you have scandinavian heritage? I do, and that sounds very swedish to me. Though the trad. dish would include layers of salted anchovies.

[1] The only time I cook with tofu is in a soup where it's being liquidised.

[redsturgeon]

Stir fry veggies, whatever he like but substitute tofu for meat, same with fried rice and an extra egg in the fried rice. (you know the trick for not making it sticky?)

Don't substitute tofu unless you have an expert chef. Tofu can be palatable, but it's difficult[1], and if you just treat it as a regular stirfry ingredient you'll get something pretty unpleasant. Even marinating it in preparation doesn't really help. Pulses work better for your protein, and nuts are positively delicious. Cashews are probably the most seamless nuts, but many others are great too (and you can have fun shelling them with, for example, walnuts). Some can be a key ingredient: coconut nicely complements the heat of chilli and/or ginger.



[1] The only time I cook with tofu is in a soup where it's being liquidised.

I just cut it into slices and fry it and it seems to be fine to me. Not sure what you can do wrong. Frying it just gives a little more texture. It has no flavour but that can be added by whatever you are cooking it with, ginger, garlic, chilli, black bean sauce, soy sauce etc.

Cashews would work too though.

John

[Generali]

Spaghetti/linguine with carbonara-ish sauce, just the whisked eggs and hard cheese - you said dairy is fine but real Parmigiano/pecorino contains sheep rennet - do you or your lad have thoughts on rennet? One could replace the cured pork with griddled slices of courgette or red pepper, sweet potato or other veg and some smoked paprika.
I think a full Sunday style roast without meat is a great meal, get a veggie gravy and with a plate of roast potatoes, mashed root veggies, roast onions, parsnip and carrots, sprouts/greens, Yorkshires, sage and onion stuffing - one doesn't miss the couple of slices of chicken/pork etc.
I do loads of meat free salads, you make the meal interesting by having lots of variety, small servings of say a cucumber and kiwi salad, beetroot and mint yoghurt, chick peas in vinaigrette, boiled eggs/pickled eggs, potato salad, coleslaw, oven roasted tomatoes , plenty of leaves and croutons. With half a dozen or more dishes in your repertoire it's easy to have salads a couple of times a week without getting samey. Handy you're in the other hemisphere to me as salads are off the menu currently,

I specifically asked about rennet and geletine and both are fine.

Lest we forget this is an 11 year old boy who is experimenting for fun. This is like when he tries to cycle home without pressing the brakes or walks to the shops without treading on the lines.

Salads are good. He loves a good garden salad and also tomato salad so this would be a good opportunity to branch out a bit.

[UncleEbenezer]

Lest we forget this is an 11 year old boy who is experimenting for fun. This is like when he tries to cycle home without pressing the brakes or walks to the shops without treading on the lines.

Experimenting is good. Without prejudice as to whether it leads anywhere longer-term.

There are good and bad outcomes. The good outcome is that you all broaden your culinary horizons and enjoy new experiences. The bad outcome is that you stay within your comfort zone and find meat-free to be nothing more than a subset of your existing repertoire, and lacking much of what you enjoy.

That's why I suggested thinking about vegan. There's so very little vegan food you can cook within a traditional European repertoire, it'll force you to think about it, and push you towards the good outcome.

If your lad were a few years older, I'd say without hesitation, put him in charge (c.f. my anecdote of how I learned to cook in viewtopic.php?f=22&t=192 ). Not sure how well that would work at 11, but might be worth thinking about.

[Generali]

Lest we forget this is an 11 year old boy who is experimenting for fun. This is like when he tries to cycle home without pressing the brakes or walks to the shops without treading on the lines.

Experimenting is good. Without prejudice as to whether it leads anywhere longer-term.

There are good and bad outcomes. The good outcome is that you all broaden your culinary horizons and enjoy new experiences. The bad outcome is that you stay within your comfort zone and find meat-free to be nothing more than a subset of your existing repertoire, and lacking much of what you enjoy.

That's why I suggested thinking about vegan. There's so very little vegan food you can cook within a traditional European repertoire, it'll force you to think about it, and push you towards the good outcome.

If your lad were a few years older, I'd say without hesitation, put him in charge (c.f. my anecdote of how I learned to cook in viewtopic.php?f=22&t=192 ). Not sure how well that would work at 11, but might be worth thinking about.

He's not old enough that I can crack a beer and sit on the back porch to watch the sun going down. He is old enough that he can go to the fore. I can stand back and give advice but let him get on with it for the most part. A bit like a spotter in trampolining; there to stop him hurting himself. The great thing with him cooking veggies is that they're cheap so if he messes it up we can just start again! Plus we've got 5 chooks in the back yard and 20 eggs in the fridge so if it comes to it we can always have eggs on toast instead.

By going veggie firstly he got to set the rules. It's his idea and he hasn't started off with me saying, "Actually this is a better idea". There's nothing to dampen the spirit like being told your original premise is no good.

Secondly I want him to experiment with new ideas but at the same time I don't want to overwhelm him. If he can have some meals that are familiar and well loved and some that are different or that he might have had a taste of when we've been out to one of the Vietnamese places in Cabramatta (for example) but that isn't particularly familiar to him then I'll think he'll enjoy it.

Actually that gives me an idea for one of the meals: Vietnamese rice paper rolls, those glassy circles made of rice that you dip in warm water and wrap veggies, sauces and herbs & spices in. There's one dinner right there. It's great as he can do everything for that. I don't even need to supervise. If I take out the chicken and add in carrot and cucumber then that should hit the spot.

http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/17608/vietnamese+rice+paper+rolls

[redsturgeon]

Actually that gives me an idea for one of the meals: Vietnamese rice paper rolls, those glassy circles made of rice that you dip in warm water and wrap veggies, sauces and herbs & spices in. There's one dinner right there. It's great as he can do everything for that. I don't even need to supervise. If I take out the chicken and add in carrot and cucumber then that should hit the spot.

Actually if you can find tinned jackfruit, roast it with hoisin sauce, it is a great substitute for roast duck...my vegan daughter does them when she make vegan Peking "duck".

John

[didds]

Looking at the list of meals he likes they are all doable as beggie, apart from may be southern fri8ed chicken... but if you google I suspect there will be a recipe available for a veggie equivalent using tofu, or quorn fillets or similar.

shephers pie youc an use veggie mince or hiughly garlicked beans (kidney, butter etc) in tomato sauce.,

two veggies and a vegan (plus two carnivores!) in our house

Our only real challenge is a vegan that doesn;t like beans or mushrooms!

didds