Poor old vegetarians get a bit of a raw deal when it comes to Christmas grub, unless of course they’re the ones in charge of cooking dinner. It took some digging for me to to find a dish that was suitably “meaty”, seasonal, and that didn’t involve goats’ cheese or red peppers, which lots of vegetarians view as a real cop-out if promoted as the vegetarian option. I understand their point, but I happen to love grilled red peppers and anything made with goats’ cheese, so I had to steer away to something more unusual.

The answer was parsnip fritters with a rich mushroom and cider sauce, which came courtesy of The Café Paradiso Cookbook by Denis Cotter, of the famed vegetarian restaurant in Cork city.

The chicory and blood orange salad can also be made with grapefruit if you can’t find any blood oranges. It’s an assembly of winter ingredients with a tasty dressing and you should feel free to serve the salad with some smoked salmon, or the ubiquitous goats’ cheese, for a vegetarian starter that everyone can enjoy.

Chicory and blood orange salad

Serves 4-6

2 heads chicory

Handful of mixed leaves

2 blood oranges, segmented

Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp walnut oil

1 tbsp wholegrain mustard

1 tbsp chopped tarragon

1 tbsp chopped mint

Juice of 1 lemon

Good squeeze of honey

Salt and pepper

Mix the ingredients for the dressing together, season to taste and then assemble the salad ingredients on plates and drizzle some dressing over the top. Serve with some goats’ cheese dotted on top, or slices of smoked salmon.

Parsnip fritters

Serves4

70g wild rice

Glug of olive oil

1 onion, peeled and chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

1 tsp fennel seeds

Salt and pepper

1 big or 2 small parsnips (200g approx)

3 eggs

50ml milk

2 tbsp yoghurt

100g flour

¼tsp nutmeg

1 tsp dried dill

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp chopped parsley

2 tsp baking powder

Sunflower oil

Cook the rice in boiling water until just cooked. Drain and rinse until it is cold. You should have approximately 150g of cooked rice. Heat up the oil in a saucepan and sweat the onion until it is soft. Add the garlic and fennel seeds and season well. Meanwhile, peel and grate the parsnip to yield 120g of grated parsnip and add this to the onion mixture. Continue to cook for a few minutes and then set aside. Whisk the eggs with the milk and yoghurt and then add to the flour, whisking until there are no lumps. Add the nutmeg, dill, mustard and parsley. Then add the onion and rice mixture. Mix well, and when you are ready to start frying, add the baking powder.

Heat up a few tablespoons of sunflower oil in a non-stick frying pan and spoon blobs of the batter into the frying pan to make thick, small pancakes. Fry them in batches until cooked on both sides and then transfer to a baking tray. You can cool them down fully at this stage and re-heat in a moderate oven until hot through. Serve with a good spoonful of the mushroom and cider sauce.

Mushroom and cider sauce

Knob of butter

200g button mushrooms, thinly sliced

Salt and pepper

1 tsp thyme leaves

300ml cider

100ml cream

Heat the butter and fry the mushrooms until they are just starting to colour, then season well. Add the thyme and then the cider and cream. Cook over a gentle heat for five to 10 minutes, until the sauce reduces slightly and is super-tasty. This is fine to cool and re-heat and feel free to add some garlic.

See also itsa.ie