This wellington is a perfect plant-based centerpiece for anyone craving something meaty this Christmas. Vegan burgers are a key ingredient here, and you can use any brand you like.
Ingredients
For the filling
- 900 g meaty plant-based burgers (about 4 packs)
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Sea salt and black pepper
- Dijon mustard, for brushing the beef
For the mushroom duxelles
- 650 g chestnut mushrooms
- 180 g cooked chestnuts
- 1 garlic clove, peeled
- Drizzle of olive oil
- 2 thyme sprigs
- Sea salt and black pepper
To assemble
- 2x ready-rolled plant-based puff pastry sheets
- Unsweetened almond milk, for brushing
- Mixed black and white sesame seeds
Instructions
Make the wellington
- Put the plant-based burger patties in a large mixing bowl
- Season with salt and pepper and mash with a fork until they all break down and come together
- Use your hands to shape them into one thick sausage shape that will make up the 'fillet' in the wellington
- Wrap the sausage in clingfilm, place on a baking tray and put into the fridge to firm up while you make the mushroom duxelles
Make the mushroom duxelles
- Clean and halve the chestnut mushrooms, then add them to a food processor with the cooked chestnuts, garlic clove and a pinch each of salt and pepper and blend to a paste
- Heat the drizzle of oil in a large frying pan over a high heat
- Once warm, add the mushroom paste, pick the leaves from the thyme sprigs and add them too
- Mix well and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the paste has dried out
- Once cooked, leave to one side to cool
While the mushroom duxelles is cooling, seal the fillet
- Wipe out the pan youmade the duxelles in and heat a drizzle of olive oil in the pan over a high heat
- Remove the cling film from the fillet and add it to the pan
- Sear on each side until evenly browned all over
- Transfer to a plate and brush all over with Dijon mustard, then set aside
Make the wellington filling
- Lay a large piece of cling film on your work surface and spread the mushroom mixture on top to the width of the fillet
- Lay the fillet at the edge of the mushroom layer
- Tightly roll the fillet into a sausage shape
- Twist the ends of the cling film so it holds tightly together, then refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up
Finish the wellington
- Unroll one sheet of puff pastry onto a large baking sheet, keeping the paper on the bottom
- Unwrap the fillet from the cling film and place it on the middle of the pastry sheet
- Brush almond milk a thumbs width around the edge of the fillet
- Place another pastry sheet over the top of the fillet and press down around the base where the almond milk has been brushed to seal the two pastry sheets together
- Cut around the edge of the pastry, a thumbs-width from the fillet, to make a neat border, keeping any leftover pastry to decorate
- Wrap the wellington tightly in cling film and chill for another 10 minutes, or overnight if you're super organised
- Preheat oven to 190°C
Glaze the wellington
- Remove the cling film and decorate the pastry with the off-cuts if you like, re-rolling and cutting them as necessary-we like to cover the wellington in pastry strips placed diagonally across the top
- Make a hole in the pastry with a chopstick to prevent the pastry from splitting
- Glaze the wellington all over with almond milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds
Cook the wellington
- Cook the wellington in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until golden and delicious
Time to serve
- Rest for 15 minutes to allow the juices to settle, then transfer to a cutting board and slice