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Can You Suggest a Vegetarian Main Course That Is Also Dairy- and Gluten Free?
Black and white quinoa dressing with butternut squash and pecans.
I’m hosting my entire family for the first time this year and between the lot of them we’ve got gluten-intolerance, lactose-intolerance and vegetarianism. I’m a great cook and generally culinarily creative, but I can’t come up with main course that will satisfy everyone. Any thoughts? — Rachel Meyer, San Francisco
You need a gluten free vegan main course to satisfy everybody’s dietary requirements, but it’s not always easy. Many gluten free dishes have dairy or meat. And many dairy-free dishes have gluten.
The Curried Lentil Squash and Apple Stew and Harvest Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms I mentioned here are vegan and gluten free (though you’ll need to substitute gluten free breadcrumbs in the mushrooms). Or you could substitute wild rice for the couscous in the Seven-Vegetable Couscous recipe to make it gluten free. Everyday Happy Herbivore’s Cajun Cornbread Casserole fits the bill; just make sure your Cajun seasoning and your non-dairy milk substitute don’t contain gluten. If your vegetarian guest eats food that contains eggs, you could try Sylvana Nardone’s Gluten-Free Pumpkin Dumplings With Radicchio, but do a test batch to make sure you like the consistency. You may also want to take a look at some of your favorite vegan dishes and see if they can easily be made gluten free by substituting gluten free flour or using a gluten free grain like quinoa or cornmeal. Be sure to check out Martha Rose Shulman’s recent series on gluten free holiday stuffings.
INTERACTIVE FEATURE: Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving 2011
The Dining staff is taking questions on cooking, drinking, entertaining or any other holiday hurdles. Tweet us at @nytimesdining using the hashtag #ThanksgivingQs, or post a question, and browse other readers’ questions, here. Thanksgiving recipes, videos and more are here.
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