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gellchom

Help! Last minute vegetarian!

gellchom
11 years ago

Arrgghh, I am so annoyed right now!

Tomorrow we are having dinner for eight. My husband and I are playing Tevye and Golde in "Fiddler on the Roof," and we've invited the director, choreographer, music director, and our stage "daughters" for a Shabbat dinner (some last week, some tomorrow). Because the directors aren't Jewish, I wanted to make as traditional a meal as I could.

When I invited them, two weeks ago, by e-mail, I specifically asked each guest if there were any allergies or aversions or if they were vegetarian.

You know what's coming.

Tonight at 10:00 pm, less than 24 hours before the dinner, after most of it is already cooked, one young guest (whom I see at rehearsals five times a week, including this evening) sent this email, as a response to the one I'd sent:

"Hi Gellchom,
I just realized that I never told you I'm a vegetarian! I realize this is extremely short notice, so let me know if you would like me to bring something or plan to eat at home. Sorry!
Thanks,
Guest

Now, I know a lot of you would love to be supportive and tell me not to do a thing to accommodate her and just let her eat around the meat dishes. And I do think I would be within my rights, so to speak, to do so.

But I want to be as good a host as I can, whether or not she deserves it, and I don't want to put a damper on my own party, no matter whose fault it is. I don't feel comfortable telling her to eat at home, and telling her to bring a dish can create kosher problems.

So I need your help. What can I feed her? For a main dish, anyway - tough luck on the appetizer (I guess she can eat the rye bread!) and soup.

Here is what I'm serving, so you have a basis. Of course, trying to go for heavy Eastern European Jewish got me to a very meat-y menu. Tomorrow I've got chopped liver (I bought that - could easily, and more cheaply, have chosen hummus if I'd known), challa, chicken soup with matzo balls (made with schmaltz), mock tenderloin, horseradish sauce, roasted green beans with garlic, kasha with bow tie noodles, tossed green salad, and for dessert mandelbrot and watermelon-lemonade sorbet. Everything is made already except the main course, and the meat is already seasoned.

Please remember I can't add anything with any dairy products, because of kosher rules. That means no cheese, which makes it even tougher.

And of course I have a pretty busy day tomorrow.

Any suggestions? Right now I am just too annoyed to think straight. All I can think of is pasta with sauce out of a jar. I need your help!

Thanks so much in advance.

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