Rustic Veggie Wellington

For me the Christmas table is all about theatre.  Showing off that centrepiece – usually a golden bird, and then presenting it with all the trimmings.  I’m not changing any of that other than taking away the meat.  For my main course, the theatrical moment is a glorious vegetable and stuffing Rustic Veggie Wellington. I think anything wrapped in golden flaky pastry always elicits ooohs and ahhhs from my guests and that’s exactly what you want. Carved into thick slices and served with everyone’s favourite trimmings is sure to satisfy even the die-hard meat-eaters.

Rustic Vegetable and Stuffing Wellington

TIP: All the items can be made up to two days in advance and kept in the fridge, in fact they will benefit from this as it will help when you assemble the Wellington.  Once assembled the whole Wellington can be frozen for up to a month and be cooked directly from frozen – add 20 mins to the cooking time.

For the pastry

• 500g plain flour
• 250g salted butter – chilled and cut into cubes
• 1 egg, beaten with a few tablespoons cold water

1. Place the flour and the cubed butter into a large bowl and rub together with your fingertips until they resemble breadcrumbs.
2. Add the beaten egg and water and use a fork to combine. You may need to add a little more water until the pastry starts to come together and form a dough.
3. Pat out the dough onto a piece of clingfilm, wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.

For the mushroom paté

• 50g walnuts
• a large nob of butter
• olive oil
• 200g mushrooms – thickly sliced
• 2 garlic cloves – finely grated
• 2 twigs of fresh rosemary – chopped
• 75g strong cheddar – grated

1. Place a large frying pan onto a medium heat and add the walnuts.  Toast them until golden.  This usually takes about 5 mins. Once they’re done, remove them from the pan and set them aside.
2. Add a large nob of butter and a little olive oil to the pan and throw in the mushrooms.  Now, I’m a ‘low and slow’ kind of mushroom fryer.  I give them an initial shimmy in the pan to coat them in the butter and oil and then leave them alone on a medium heat until they begin to squeak. (Roughly 6 mins.)
3. Then, add plenty of pepper – more than you think, plus the rosemary. Then shimmy them again and leave them to turn golden.  A few shimmies here and there until they are soft and gloriously golden all over. Set aside.
4. Tip the mushrooms and toasted walnuts into a food processor along with the cheese and blend to a rough paste. Set aside in the fridge.

For the filling

• 6 vegetarian sausages – I like using the Richmond meat-free ones as they’re soft and mix well with the rest of the filling
• 1 packet of your favourite stuffing mix
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• 1 leek – finely chopped
• 1 courgette – finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic – grated
• Thyme and rosemary
• 100g gruyere cheese – finely grated

1. In a pan, gently saute the onions, leek, courgette and garlic until tender, season well and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, rehydrate the stuffing mix according to the packet instructions, then stir in the sauted veg and cheese.
3. Mash the veggie sausages and then mix them well with the stuffing mix
4. Lay the filling onto a piece of clingfilm and form into a thick sausage shape. Wrap tightly in the clingfilm (two layers is a good tip) and place in the fridge for at least an hour for it to firm up.

Assembly

1. Pre-heat your oven to 180C (fan)
2. Cut one third off your pastry and set aside.
3. Roll out the large piece until it is twice the size of your filling sausage shape, then smother it in the mushroom pate leaving a thick edge of pastry on one of the long sides. Brush this with beaten egg.
4. Lay the sausage filling onto the pate and tightly roll it up. Press the seam firmly and fold the ends over using a little more egg wash. Flip it over so the seam is on the bottom.  Brush the whole thing with more egg wash.
5. With plenty of flour on your board, toll out the smaller piece of pastry and use a lattice wheel to cut a lattice pattern into it.
6. Swiftly pick up the pastry and lay it over the wellington and carefully spread out the lattice sheet to open up the lattice pattern. Brush the whole thing with egg wash.
7. Carefully place the wellington onto a baking sheet and bake for 30 – 40 mins until the top is a dark golden brown.

For more pastry recipe, check these out on Dom in the Kitchen.

Eat and of course, enjoy!