I have always been fascinated by the whole Wellington thing but never had one and never made one before. I think I had a mini vegan Wellington once and it was good but thankfully it was very mini, because it was heavy. So I decided to make my own version, first because I had an amazing butternut squash asking me to do something glorious with it, and I wanted to make puff pastry. All that folding relaxes me like as much as chamomile.
So here’s the recipe!
Ingredients and procedure
Vegan puff pastry: I made my own but store bought would also work well. – if you have questions about how to make your own vegan puff pastry at home ask away, I might as well make a post about it but it’s just patience and patience etc.
For the squash part, I used 2/3 butternut squash:
Oven roast squash halves at 200C for 25-30’, coated with miso paste (1/2 tbsp) , parsley (as much as you want) and sage (1 tbsp) and some salt.
I roasted the whole thing and sliced away the bits I didn’t need and had them with another meal.
Let cool and, beefore wrapping in puff pastry, also coat with smoked paprika (1/2 tsp).
Filling salsa:
3 small white onions
80g spinach
50g Chinese cabbage
2 handful golden raisins
100ml red wine
10g parsley
1 celery stalk
6 sun-dried tomatoes
Salt to taste
1 tsp blackstrap molasses
Sautee the onions, finely chopped, in a tiny bit of oil until golden. Then add the celery, cook for two minutes, add the spinach, the cabbage and cook for a few minutes. These veggies are watery so let them loose their water before adding the red wine, and then add the raisins, sun-dried tomatoes and the molasses. Cook until everything is soft and tender, and most importantly, all the liquids have evaporated. We don’t want a soggy bottom (this is the number one nightmare in my kitchen).
Mince filling:
1tsp oil
70g soy mince
1 tbsp tomato paste
200ml chopped tomatoes + 100ml water
1 tsp smoked paprika
Pinch of salt
Put the dried mince in a saucepan with a teaspoon of oil, cook for 1 minute before adding the tomato paste, and after another minute add the chopped tomatoes and the water (I usually put some water in the can or carton where the chopped tomatoes were if I have emptied it, so that the water is still tomatoey and nothing goes to waste) and cook for a few minutes (5). Add the smoked paprika and cook for 2’. The mince should be all fluffy and nice, salt to taste and let cool.
Assemble:
Everything has to be cool, the veggies, the mince, the squash and most importantly, the pastry. You want your pastry to be as cool as possible when going in the oven.
Roll out your pastry, place the filling at 1/3 of the rolled out pastry, in a line. Put the soy mince in the natural cavity of the squash and where the cavity is not present use a spoon to create it. Scatter also some mince on the oniony filling. Place the squash on this layer and cover with the pastry. Once everything is nice and smooth place in the fridge for 30’ before carving your design and baking.
When ready, bake at 170C fan for 35’ or until golden brown (it really depends on the ovens, mine is temperamental but works best when using the fan).
Miri's Cake Files 