Food & Drink

Vegan mushroom wellington

Ingredients:

• 400g chestnut mushrooms, half finely chopped and half cut in to chunks

• 100g dried porcini mushrooms

• 500g sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks

• 150g spinach

2 x 320g Jus-Rol puff pastry ready rolled sheet

• Olive oil

• 1 large onion, finely chopped

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed

• 1 tbsp finely chopped rosemary

• 3 tbsp plant-based milk

• 1 tbsp finely chopped sage

• 100g soft white breadcrumbs

• 40g chopped chestnuts

• 40g dried cranberries

• nutmeg

• 1 tbsp English mustard

Method:

Add some olive oil to a large frying pan and fry the onion and finely chopped chestnut mushrooms over a medium heat. After about 20 minutes the onion will be soft and the mushrooms will be wilted and reduced. Then stir in the garlic and sweet potatoes. Add 150ml of water, cover and cook for 15 minutes until the sweet potatoes are just softened, and most of the liquid has evaporated; you can always add a little more water if needed if the liquid evaporates too quickly. Whilst this is cooking soak the dried porcini mushrooms in a bowl of hot water.

Add the larger chunky half of chestnut mushrooms, then drain the porcini mushrooms and add to the pan. Stir in the rosemary, sage, spinach, walnuts, cranberries and breadcrumbs. Grate in some fresh nutmeg and season well. The mixture should resemble a moist stuffing, if too dry add a little extra liquid, but be careful not make too wet. Remove from the heat and leave to cool in the pan.

When the mixture is cool, unroll one of the puff pastry sheets onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Whisk together the milk and mustard with a pinch of salt and set aside. Add the cooled mushroom mixture down the middle of the pastry sheet in a neat line. Make sure to leave a 5cm border around the edges. Brush the boarders with the milk/mustard mix and then top with the second pastry sheet. Press the top pastry sheet around the filling to remove any air pockets and push down on the borders to seal. Trim off any excess pastry and use a fork crimp to the edges to ensure a good seal and create a pretty pattern.

Cut a steam hole in the centre-top of the wellington and then brush all of the exposed pastry with the milk/mustard mix. Place in the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before cooking. You can make several days in advance if required, just ensure you keep covered and refrigerated so the wellington doesn’t dry out.

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Remove the wellington from the fridge and brush with more of the milk/mustard mix. Score a pattern into the top of the pastry with a cutlery knife (be careful not cut all the way through – try using the back of the knife). Bake for around 50 minutes until golden. Check at regular intervals and cover with foil if the pastry is browning too quickly. When cooked remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving.

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