What To Cook For Dinner? Vegetarian Dilema Take Two

[jjhunter]

Hey all--

I had such good recommendations last time that I thought I'd throw this one open to the audience again for suggestions. In the next hour, I need to figure out my menu for thirty plus vegetarians. My friend D- & I need to do two (2) vegetable dishes, one (1) protein dish, and one (1) starch. At least half should be vegan as a rule of thumb. Available ingredients are as follows:

WALK-IN (Fresh produce):
-carrots
-beets
-lots of parsley (yay!)
-a few oranges
-squash
-celery
-cauliflower
-lemons
-a few green bell peppers
-eggplant galore
-tofu (could be convinced; not first impulse)
-eggs (precious shared resource)
-baby spinach (also somewhat precious)
-a little miso (we had miso soup Mon. night...hm)
-gouda (precious shared resource) + cheddar (not quite as precious, also delicious)

IN THE LEFTOVER FRIDGE
- cooked radishes
- cooked pasta with 'shrooms

OUT AND ABOUT
- various specialty flours + rices + stuff like bulgar & quinoa & dried split peas
- various dried beans (need to soak overnight if we want to use)
- sweet potatoes; regular potatoes
- ginger galore
- onions upon onions & garlic
- avocados (precious shared resource)
- sourdough starter
- various lentils (need to soak immediately if use)
- little pears (precious shared resource)
- almonds
- chopped walnuts
- whole shelled peanuts
- dried mango slices
- fresh thyme + fresh rosemary; dried spices galore

Recommendations? We have three to three and a half hours to do the actual cooking.

ETA: forgot to clarify that someone else is making a salad (with parsley!) + a desert (red velvet cake).

ETA2: final menu: pomegranate & walnut stew (fesenjan); roasted beets & onions; baked achari baingan; saffron rice; + cook's assistant's additions (salad + cake). Thank you everyone who contributed suggestions! I'll be cooking again next week & will put some more of them into practice then.

Comments

[kaberett]

Would suggest fesenjan but you don't have pomegranate molasses.

I am feeling the lemon-parsley couscous and sweet potato/aubergine/squash tagine-style-thing love, personally.

[jjhunter]

Oo...we might, actually. Will have to check cupboard. (I didn't list out the various oils, etc. because I was getting le tired.)

Thanks re: other suggestions! Lemon-parsley couscous sounds om nom nom delicious in particular.

[cledon]

Here's a great and easy lentil recipe. It's plain so you can go more exotic on the other protein dish. I've made this myself many times.

Another tasty and easy recipe is carrot and coriander (cilantro) soup. This is my current favorite soup.

The rosemary might be nice in some kind of roasted potato dish (uses onion and garlic too).

Eggplant caviar with bread or pita is very tasty.

A grated raw carrot and beet salad using some of the citrus and ginger and walnuts might work but I think you'd best let it marinate for a few hours at least.

A sweet potato casserole. A quiche using the eggs and cheese and spinach plus whatever else you want to add. Roasted curry cauliflower. Use the avocado as the base for a salad dressing. Baked pears and almonds for desert. Green rice to use the parsley.

Hee! I'd better stop there. Good luck!

[jjhunter]

These were all great suggestions, and I'm definitely bookmarking the various links to try next week. (For the next time, I'll have more time to plan in advance & am planning on attempting naan with sourdough starter. Will do eggplant caviar then!)

Thank you so much for taking the time! *is in awe of your creative cooking know-how*

[cledon]

*g* You're welcome. It's mostly free association based on what dishes I've ever heard of with at least two of the ingredients on your list.

The naan and eggplant caviar sounds delicious. *wipes away drool*

Try out the lentil dish. Not only is it easy and quick but it only uses staples and is a great back up, running late, substitution dish. I usually pair it with leafy greens, either cooked or a salad. If you're regularly cooking for thirty vegetarians, it'll come in handy.

[norabombay]

Try the sweet potatoes, cut into tiny pieces, roasted. Make salad with the oranges, and maybe some nuts.

Some sort of eggplant/lemon dish

[jjhunter]

Sounds delicious - thank you for the recommendations!

eggplant options

[libitina]

For an eggplant main dish, I often go with baingan bhartha - roast/broil eggplants until charred, peel, cook with spices and is fairly flexible on finishing time.

If you want something bulkier, I recently made baked achari baingan - which called for some slightly more obscure spices, but went in the oven to be cooked and forgotten about.

OH! Also - imam bayildi always sounds like an extravagant dish, but it's really another put it in the oven and forget about it one - and it works well (though not as indulgent) with a very small amount of oil. That would also go to your parsley and lemon

Beets!

[libitina]

balsamic roasted beets and onions with herbs

Cauliflower

[libitina]

Cauliflower & Sweet potato curry

Re: Cauliflower

[jjhunter]

We didn't do this yesterday, but I'm bookmarking it to try next week. Thank you for the suggestion!

Re: Beets!

[jjhunter]

We did this! Om nom nom & beautiful to boot.

Re: eggplant options

[jjhunter]

Re: the baked achari baingan, how long did you bake it, and at what temperature? I think we accidentally undercooked it, and am eager for tips on how to do it better next time.

Re: the other ones, will bookmark & try in the future - thank you very much for the suggestions!

Re: eggplant options

[libitina]

Honestly - I don't remember. I'm terrible at keeping track of cooking times, so it is entirely likely that I 'over'cooked it.