Hairy Bikers Veggie Wellington Recipe

This Hairy Bikers veggie Wellington wraps a chestnut, lentil and rice filling in mushroom duxelles and puff pastry, with sherry-soaked prunes down the middle. And their Veggie Feasts recipe serves 4 to 6 in about 2½ hours, at roughly 700 calories a sixth by my sums and timings.

Writing in Veggie Feasts, the pair say their nut roast “has been our staple for years but now it’s time for a change.” And with vegetarians and vegans at both their Christmas tables, they took it “to the next level” by wrapping a nut roast-style filling in pastry.

Drying out the mushrooms matters most to me, cooking them until, as they put it, the texture “should almost be that of a mushroom pâté”. And the spinach gets squeezed hard too, because I’d expect any water left in either to steam the pastry from the inside.

Hairy Bikers Veggie Wellington Recipe

Author: Alex Saidani Cooking Method:Baking Cuisine:British Courses:Dinner

Difficulty:BeginnerPrep time:1 hour Cook time:1 hour 15 minutesRest time: 10 minutesTotal time:2 hours 25 minutesServings:6 servingsCalories:700 kcal Best Season:Summer

Description

Prunes hidden in the middle of a herby chestnut filling sit under a wrap of spinach-flecked mushrooms, all sealed in egg-glazed puff pastry. And it bakes to a rich golden brown in about 35 minutes before a 10-minute rest.

Ingredients

For the filling

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 25g butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finely chopped
• 200g root vegetables, coarsely grated
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• leaves from a sprig of thyme, finely chopped
• a few sage leaves, finely shredded
• zest of 1 lemon
• ¼ tsp ground allspice
• ¼ tsp ground cloves
• ¼ tsp ground mace
• 100g cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped
• 50g nuts, finely chopped
• 75g cooked wild or brown rice
• 75g cooked brown lentils
• 25g breadcrumbs
• 2 tsp mushroom ketchup
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 egg, beaten
• sea salt and black pepper

For the mushroom duxelles

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 25g butter
• 2 shallots, very finely chopped
• 400g mushrooms, very finely chopped into 3mm dice (a food processor is fine)
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 200g spinach
• squeeze of lemon juice

For the prunes

• 12 prunes
• 75ml oloroso sherry

For the pastry

• flour, for dusting
• 500g block of puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten, for sealing and brushing

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Instructions

1. Start the filling: Heat the oil and butter in a large frying pan and cook the onion and celery until the onion starts to caramelise. Then add the grated root vegetables and keep cooking, stirring regularly, until they have reduced down considerably.
2. Season and cool: Season with salt and pepper, stir in the garlic and herbs and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. Then stir in the lemon zest and spices and set aside to cool.
3. Finish the filling: Once cool, stir in the chestnuts, nuts, rice, lentils, breadcrumbs, mushroom ketchup, soy sauce and beaten egg, then set aside. And I use ready-cooked rice and lentils to save time.
4. Make the duxelles: Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan and cook the shallots gently until translucent. Then add the mushrooms and garlic and cook until any liquid has evaporated and the texture is almost like a mushroom pâté.
5. Add the spinach: Wilt the spinach in a little water, drain it and chop finely. Then squeeze out as much water as you can, and stir it into the mushrooms with the lemon juice.
6. Soak the prunes: Put the prunes in a small pan, cover with the sherry and bring to the boil. Then take them off the heat to absorb it, while you heat the oven to 200°C/Fan 180°C/Gas 6 and line a baking tray.
7. Assemble: Roll the pastry out on a large sheet of floured baking paper to about 30 x 40cm. Spread a quarter of the mushroom mix lengthways down the middle, leaving a border at both short ends, then pile on half the filling. Then lay the prunes down the centre, add the rest of the filling so it joins up, and cover it all with the remaining mushroom.
8. Wrap: Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg, bring up the sides to overlap over the filling and seal the ends. Then roll it carefully off the paper onto the lined tray, seam-side down, cut a few slashes in the top and brush with more egg.
9. Bake and rest: Bake for about 35 minutes, until rich golden brown and piping hot. Then leave it to stand for 10 minutes before slicing.

FAQs

Is it vegetarian or vegan?

It’s vegetarian, but not vegan as written, because butter goes into both the filling and the duxelles. And there’s one egg in the filling, plus another to glaze the pastry.

There’s a vegan pastry recipe in the same book, though they give no vegan version of this Wellington, so I won’t guess at the swaps.

Can I make it ahead?

There’s no make-ahead advice in the book, so this is my own approach. So I’d make the filling and duxelles the day before and keep them covered in the fridge. Then I’d assemble and bake on the day, because a Wellington wrapped overnight risks soggy pastry.

What do they serve with it?

They serve it with cranberry sauce, gravy, roast potatoes and parsnips, and sautéed greens, all from Veggie Feasts. And the cranberry sauce uses 250g of cranberries with the zest and juice of an orange or 2 clementines. Then 50g of caster sugar and 1 tbsp of oloroso or port finish it.

And for a sharp, sweet side, their red cabbage braised in cider cooks down with vinegar and muscovado sugar.

How is it different from their nut roast?

Their chestnut and freekeh nut roast is baked as a loaf, with 3 eggs holding it together. But the Wellington uses a single egg in the filling, then wraps it in mushrooms and puff pastry.

And for another meat-free centrepiece in pastry, their chestnut and mushroom pie comes from British Classics.

Is this the one from This Morning, or Jamie Oliver’s?

It’s the one they made on ITV’s This Morning, with the recipe published there in December 2020. But it isn’t Jamie Oliver’s, because this is the Hairy Bikers recipe and I haven’t compared it with his.