Diana Henry’s vegetarian mains will please a crowd on Christmas Day – including the nut-roast sceptics. Photographs by Haarala Hamilton. Food styling by Valerie Berry

So much about how we eat has changed. It used to be unusual to consider the dishes that vegetarians might want on the Christmas table and most cooks probably found it a hassle. Now it isn’t just the vegetarians who want the vegetarian option.

Looking back at magazine articles on ‘festive cooking’ from the late 1970s, the Christmas feast was likely to start with a prawn cocktail, then turkey with all the trimmings and trifle (if you weren’t going for Christmas pudding). But the Christmas meal has never been static. In the early 20th century, meat wouldn’t have been on everyone’s plate. If you couldn’t afford it, you’d have a meal based mostly on vegetables – roots, potatoes and cabbage – and hope that someone might give you a wild rabbit. During the war there was little turkey; if you were lucky you’d have goose, lamb or pork, or maybe a home-grown chicken. As the war years continued, there were dishes such as ‘mock goose’, a casserole of layered potatoes, apples and sage. By the 1960s poultry – turkey or chicken – had become the norm, and the meal hasn’t changed that much since.

Now, in the 2020s, a lot of us eat more vegetables – for health reasons and because of concerns about the planet, not necessarily because we eschew meat – and the Christmas meal is evolving again. The turkey might share the stage with a centrepiece vegetable dish that can be eaten by everyone. The traditional sides are as popular as ever, though they may have undergone a bit of a makeover. I cook sprouts with chestnuts, but also red cabbage with blackberries and star anise, a purée of carrot and roast peppers (both can be cooked in advance and reheated) and a creamy spinach gratin. When I’m considering a vegetable main, I think first about whether it makes a statement, then whether it works with the traditional accompaniments. Tarts and pies look stunning and the cauliflower one overleaf is perfect with the usual side dishes. It also echoes the nutmeg in the bread sauce so the whole meal is brought together by this scent.

The bake on p42 is inspired by maqluba, a spiced, layered rice dish that usually includes chicken or lamb as well as vegetables, and is turned out of the pan in which it’s cooked. It’s made in the Middle East, particularly in Syria, Palestine, Iraq and Jordan. This version has vegetables – fennel, potatoes and cauliflower work too – and is given a bit of grandeur by a shower of pomegranate seeds. The accompaniments, saffron butter and harissa yoghurt, ensure you get layers of flavour and contrasting temperatures too. Other yoghurt dishes – with chopped cucumber, mint and soaked dried sour cherries, for example – would work if you want sweetness rather than the heat of harissa.

You might think that revisiting the nut roast is an unfortunate foray into the past. I remember writing out the recipe for the one served at Cranks in the days when the restaurant was so popular you had to queue for an hour to get a bowl of grains. (The grain bowls of Instagram didn’t become a thing until 40 years later.) But I have always secretly liked a good nut roast and offer you a recipe to astound the sneerers. It’s a Christmas of vegetable love. Meat eaters welcome too.