[QUOTE=Bites When Provoked]
…but enough about that. How about that lemon spaghetti recipe? 
[/QUOTE]
If you look at post #97 you will find it just as it was posted on the first page.
For those who have trouble with “Equal Parts”:
1c Olive oil
1c Lemon Juice
1c Parmesan cheese (grated).
Divide everything in half if that is too much for your needs.
Mix, pour, eat. Simple.
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
Why? Do you ask the other guests exactly what they want to eat? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with calling up your vegetarian friend and asking what he or she wants to eat–that’s a perfectly reasonable idea, however I disagree that this is the correct way to handle the situation.
[/QUOTE]
Me, either. I think that you probably know that so-and-so hates mushrooms and won’t serve up a big plate of them with nothing else offered as an alternative. But when you have someone over who you don’t know, you certainly don’t go around taking special orders from each person.
If someone is allergic to shellfish, as opposed to just not liking it, they need to tell you upon accepting the invitation. “Sure, we’d love to come for dinner! But I’ve got to tell you, I am allergic to shellfish. I hope that doesn’t screw up your menu.”
By offering a number of dishes, odds are you will be serving a couple of items that are palatable to everyone.
(Can allergic-to-shellfish have a reaction just from smelling it?)
[QUOTE=SanVito]
I’d been wondering if this was one of those cases where you just had to invite her because the one you’re really friends with is the husband or whatever… but not even that?
What’s lower than “contemporaries”? “Nonentities”?
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
<snip>(Can allergic-to-shellfish have a reaction just from smelling it?)
[/QUOTE]
I’ve known a woman who did. She couldn’t be around boiling shellfish, or she’d risk her life. It’s been quite a while though, so I’m fuzzy on the details.
[QUOTE=Uzi]
If you look at post #97 you will find it just as it was posted on the first page.
For those who have trouble with “Equal Parts”:
1c Olive oil
1c Lemon Juice
1c Parmesan cheese (grated).
Divide everything in half if that is too much for your needs.
Mix, pour, eat. Simple.
[/QUOTE]
I do a version of this with creme fraiche and a bit of lemon juice. It rocks.
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
A similar issue with cheese. Most cheese is made with natural rennet, an animal product. It wouldn’t matter for vegans anyway (who don’t eat any sort of cheese), but ovo-lacto vegetarians would also be prohibited from eating cheese made with natural rennet.
[/QUOTE]
You realize that you’ve just saved a generation of vegetarians from Domino’s pizza, don’t you…?
Dominoes…yet another answer to [Whiny Veggy Pwincess]“How come they get to eat Everything…and I only get One choice of entree…? I want an Ooompa-Loompa of my Very Own and I Want it NOW!!!”[/Whiny Veggy Pwincess]"
“…oh, there’s another choice, but I just didn’t have a good recipe to cook you some ‘FUCK OFF!’. Still, you’re welcome to order some to-go.”
[QUOTE=Count Blucher]
You realize that you’ve just saved a generation of vegetarians from Domino’s pizza, don’t you…?
Dominoes…yet another answer to [Whiny Veggy Pwincess]“How come they get to eat Everything…and I only get One choice of entree…? I want an Ooompa-Loompa of my Very Own and I Want it NOW!!!”[/Whiny Veggy Pwincess]"
“…oh, there’s another choice, but I just didn’t have a good recipe to cook you some ‘FUCK OFF!’. Still, you’re welcome to order some to-go.”
[/QUOTE]
Just cut off a nice thick slice of “Shut the fuck up” with a side of “you ignorant slut” and your menu problems are solved.
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
isinglass … rennet
[/QUOTE]
Factually correct on both counts. However, let’s not confuse vegetarians with vegans. There are many many flavors of self-described vegetarians. Many will eat fish, eggs, and dairy. Many will eat fowl. My ex often said that she would not eat meat. What she meant was that she didn’t care for beef, aside from the occasional burger. She was fine with fish, fowl, pork, and lamb.
Not to pick on you, pulykamell, but too often I see a lot of Dopers crying “Ha! Hypocrite!” when a self-described vegetarian passes within 10 feet of a glass of wine made from grapes that grew in soil that a cat once cast a shadow on.
[QUOTE=Kalhoun]
Just cut off a nice thick slice of “Shut the fuck up” with a side of “you ignorant slut” and your menu problems are solved.
[/QUOTE]
high-five
Ok, maybe I’m just jealous of the OP. I’ve had dinners & get-togethers with bad guests, but usually the bad ones are Family. 
[QUOTE=SanVito]
Okay, this pit thread was more about her than her vegetarianism. I guess her vegetarianism gets on my wick because it’s yet another example of how she likes to go around making herself sound special.
[/quote]
Anyone who is loudly, self-righteously fanatic about their eating habits is as annoying as shit.
Example/ The acquaintance who wouldn’t shut the fuck up about how he “only eats organic” and then proceeded to tell us about all the poisons in our meal. More annoying is that my SO actually buys from local organic farmers because she likes to “buy local”, but this guy was so geared up for his holier-than-thou tirade that he didn’t even pause long enough to find out that, yes, all the ingredients were organic.
[QUOTE=SanVito]
She sent me a long email rant accusing me of being jealous of her good looks and ability to attract men… (Err, well I’m a lesbian so I don’t see how I’d be jealous of that).
I invited her out to Sunday lunch with my cousins who were staying with me. When I phoned her asking where she was, she said she was just on her way to the gym and could we change it to an evening do instead (we were already in the restaurant). When I pointed out to her that, no, we were already there and I had to take my cousins to the airport in the evening, she said I was so selfish and slammed the phoen down on me. WTF???
[/QUOTE]
Total ass, not worth your time. That’s not a “friend”, it’s a “rude acquaintance”.
Some health food stores sell “rennet-free” dairy cheese. I’m foggy on the details although I read the package to see what they had to say about their cheese not made with rennet (I just don’t remember any of it).
Depending on your style of vegetarianism, it may not be a big deal to you anyway. We don’t eat mammals or birds, but have no issues eating dairy or fish. Most of our meals end up being vegan anyway for some reason, but not intentionally.
Uzi - thanks for the recipe recap. In fact I did miss it back on the first page when I got distracted and wandered away from my screen and the thread mushroomed to two pages.
[QUOTE=tdn]
Not to pick on you, pulykamell, but too often I see a lot of Dopers crying “Ha! Hypocrite!” when a self-described vegetarian passes within 10 feet of a glass of wine made from grapes that grew in soil that a cat once cast a shadow on.
[/QUOTE]
That made me laugh. 
[QUOTE=Uzi]
If you look at post #97 you will find it just as it was posted on the first page.
[/QUOTE]
And it looks delish, but I was specifically after the OP’s recipe.
Unless that *is *the OP’s recipe, and I’ve missed the post corroborating that - which is quite possible.
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
A similar issue with cheese. Most cheese is made with natural rennet, an animal product. It wouldn’t matter for vegans anyway (who don’t eat any sort of cheese), but ovo-lacto vegetarians would also be prohibited from eating cheese made with natural rennet.
[/QUOTE]
IIRC, any cheese that is marked as “Kosher” will be made with some rennet-substitute (or some kind of synthesized rennet? I’m not really clear on the details, not being observant myself) – since otherwise the dairy/animal mixture would be intrinsically non-kosher.
[QUOTE=Bites When Provoked]
And it looks delish, but I was specifically after the OP’s recipe.
Unless that *is *the OP’s recipe, and I’ve missed the post corroborating that - which is quite possible.
[/QUOTE]
That is the OP’s recipe. I just emphasized the ‘equal parts’ bit.
[QUOTE=pulykamell]
Why? Do you ask the other guests exactly what they want to eat? I mean, there’s nothing wrong with calling up your vegetarian friend and asking what he or she wants to eat–that’s a perfectly reasonable idea, however I disagree that this is the correct way to handle the situation.
[/QUOTE]
Because I’m making something specifically for them. I don’t understand why anyone ever makes something specifically for another person without some sort of consultation. People have all kinds of allergies, restrictions, and things they plain don’t like. But if I were making something for a group of people, that’s not feasible. So I do my best.
[QUOTE=Uzi]
That is the OP’s recipe. I just emphasized the ‘equal parts’ bit.
[/QUOTE]
I thought it was my recipe and the OP hadn’t posted one (though mine is pretty much identical to the one linked to from the Food Network).
[QUOTE=Do Not Taunt]
Because I’m making something specifically for them.
[/QUOTE]
While this is true in some cases, it isn’t true in the OP. There is nothing about a non-meat dish that makes it specifically for the vegetarian. I’ll cook lemon linguini for meat eaters and veggies alike - there is no requirement that a meat eater be served meat with every meal.
What I have been thinking about is when one should only do a vegetarian entree. With 11 guests as in the OP, one of whom is vegetarian, I see no problem with the balance struck, and the meal sounds very tasty. On the other hand, if I were to invite a vegetarian date over to my place for a home cooked meal, I would think it very odd to make two entrees, one with meat, one without (unless I was grilling, when I don’t think it would be an issue). And that isn’t just because of the work involved in cooking two entrees rather than one. I would see it as being rather rude to my guest to cook something different in that situation.
If it was myself and a fellow meat eater inviting a vegetarian couple round for a dinner, I think the same would stand - I would probably cook just vegetarian, and feel somewhat rude if I did meat and vegetarian.
However, if it is me and two couples that I have invited, I think I would quite possibly do the two entree route and not find it rude.
If the situation were reversed fro the OP, and I (a meat eater) invited 11 vegetarians to dinner, I would think it very rude of me to cook a steak for myself, even if I knew that none of the 11 were “ethical” vegetarians. However, if I knew there were 10 vegetarian invitees, and one who was not only not vegetarian, but did not eat vegetarian food at all (I am looking at you, ex-F-i-L), I would probably get a steak or something for them separately.
She should be in the ex-friend category. What a bitch! Change the group’s plans to meet her convenience?
Why are some people such assholes? I was taught you said thank you for whatever your host presented to you, and ATE IT-short of allergies or diabetes. I don’t make special meals for my vegetarian daughter-she either picks the meat out of the casserole or she eats the salad, bread and cheese or whatever. I am not a short order cook. Any balanced meal will have something that matches everyone’s needs.
I think this is one reason I stopped entertaining-it was less like entertaining and more like babysitting.
Ex-friend? What I’m wondering is how she ever ended up in the “friend” category in the first place. What did you ever see in this woman?
[QUOTE=eleanorigby]
Why are some people such assholes? I was taught you said thank you for whatever your host presented to you, and ATE IT-short of allergies or diabetes. I don’t make special meals for my vegetarian daughter-she either picks the meat out of the casserole or she eats the salad, bread and cheese or whatever. I am not a short order cook. Any balanced meal will have something that matches everyone’s needs.
[/QUOTE]
I think this is confusing being a good guest with being a good host. If I invite people round and one of them does not eat pork for religious reasons, and I unwittingly put bacon in one of the dishes, a good guest would enjoy the company, salad, side dishes, other food I have cooked and not bring attention to my mistake.
A good host, on the other hand, would not put bacon in the food in that situation. It is a different situation when it is family - presumably your daughter can cook for herself if she chooses not to eat the family meal. But if I knowingly invited a vegetarian to dinner and put a plate down in front of them and told them to pick around the meat, or just to eat the salad, I would be being a pretty lousy host.
[QUOTE=Noone Special]
IIRC, any cheese that is marked as “Kosher” will be made with some rennet-substitute (or some kind of synthesized rennet? I’m not really clear on the details, not being observant myself)
[/QUOTE]
Rennet can be derived from vegetable and microbial sources as well as the standard calf’s stomach kind. Some cheeses at Trader Joe’s specify on the label which kind of rennet is used, which pleases me greatly. I just picked up some nice stilton there made with microbial rennet.