Suggestions for vegetarian side dishes? (Will be the first time we've all cooked a duck, so I'd like input on side dishes that will complement the...

Since I no longer eat meats by preference I've done a lot of vegetarian side dishes as main courses. Saute yellow onion in olive oil til just starting to caramelize, add chopped zucchini & yellow bottle-neck squash. Cook til tender, add separately sauteed mushrooms right before serving and can be served over rice, pasta or other grains or by itself. Its very flavorful and easy. Add to potato pancakes or latkes, whipped sweet potatoes and you got a feast as well as the duck consumers.

Thanks all for the lovely suggestions!

Applesauce is a great side, particularly with red cabbage and green beans almondine.

This would be delicious http://food52.com/recipes/7533_suspiciously_delicious_cabbage

I also love the idea of a potato pancake, but if that seems to rich maybe a grain dish like Amanda's radish and mixed grain one (sub turnips which are in season now) or maybe an arugula salad to cut the richness.

Duck is pretty rich so I would do a balance of green vegetables - roasted string beans with toasted almonds, steamed broccoli with a citrus sauce; a herb and greens salad with a citrus vinaigrette. Then made a mushroom dish; wild rice with dried fruit or roasted baby yukon gold potatoes

So, I realize this may not (entirely) help you, but I recently made a duck breast and then cooked some latkes in the duck fat. They were AMAZING. Also I liked the combination of the potatoes and duck a lot. What about something potato-pancaky, like dinner hash browns or rosti? If you have two pans going, you could do one veggie and one with the duck drippings, which I bet the carnivores would love! I imagine the duck in this recipe gives off a fair amount of fat, that you could siphon off.