The Christmas Wellington

Thu, 19 December 2019

The firefighting chef Paul Knapp joins us to make a meat free Christmas wellington.

This tasty and Juicy plant based Christmas wellington is happy to take centre stage at any dinner table this year – a fun spin on the classic beef wellington why not try this for a great alternative Christmas feast.

The secret to a deliciously juicy yet flaky Wellington is to pat everything dry and make sure it is completely cold before wrapping it in your puff pastry, remember nobody likes a soggy bottom.

Ingredients

2 packets of veggie/vegan sausages just squish them all together, like sausage meat stuffing (add a little water if dry and check seasoning) Caramelised red onions Mushroom pate
500 g baby spinach wilted
4 sprigs of thyme leaves picked
1 packet of puff pastry
1 tbs dijon mustard
Olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
eggless egg wash (maple syrup and plant based milk I use oat)
caramelised onions

olive oil 2 tablespoons
red onions 2, thinly sliced
olive oil 1 tablespoon
brown sugar 2 tablespoons
balsamic vinegar 4 tablespoons
water ¼ cup
thyme leaves 1 tablespoon, chopped

METHOD
For the onions, heat olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Add onions and cook until very soft and starting to caramelise (about 10 minutes). Add brown sugar, balsamic vinegar and water, reduce heat and cook until you have a jam-like consistency (about 15 minutes). Stir in thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper, then refrigerate to cool completely.

For the mushroom pate
Ingredients
1 large pack of mushrooms – about 15 medium sized – very finely chopped/blitzed
1 onion – finely chopped/blitzed
4 garlic cloves – crushed/blitzed
1 glass of white wine
fresh rosemary or thyme it’s your preference

Method
Melting dairy free butter and oil in a pan and sautéing the onions and garlic till soft translucent, add the mushrooms and rosemary and sauté gently for about 5 minutes and then add your wine and cook for a further
15 minutes or until the mushrooms are fully cooked and tender and all the liquid has evaporated then set aside to cool completely

Wilted spinach
Boil the kettle and pour it over your spinach drain and dry, easy as
Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (390 Fahrenheit).
Place a sheet of baking paper on the baking tray and then place the puff pastry sheet on top.
Thinly spread the pastry with a little whole grain mustard (optional) Spread half the mushroom pate onto the pastry on about 1/3 of the pastry next add half your caramelised onions just keeping it inside your pate.
Top this with half of the baby spinach and season with salt and pepper.
Place the sausage less sausage mix on top of the spinach with some fresh thyme and then repeat the process in reverse finishing with a mushroom pate covered sausage roll.
Very carefully roll the pastry over the top of the sausage mixture until you have a log. Press down to seal the edges using your eggless wash.
Roll over the log so that the seam is facing the bottom, glaze and score with a knife.
To make the eggless egg wash whisk all of the ingredients together in a bowl. Very lightly coat with the vegan egg wash. Place the pastry in the freezer for 10 minutes before repeating with another layer of vegan egg wash and freezing the pastry for a further 10 minutes if you so wish, all this will do is ensure a good layer of glaze and give you that golden finish.
Place the pastry back on the baking sheet and tray and place in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until golden and flakey