Vegetarian Christmas dinner

Christmas dinner was once a vegetarian's worst nightmare but menus are becoming more and more diverse. Why not try the veggie route this year?

Menu

Mushroom Wellington
Gratin Dauphinoise
Healthy Vegetable Stuffing
Caramelised Carrots and Parsnips
Yorkshire Pudding
Braised Fennel
Large green salad (optional)
Fig Ice Cream/vegetarian Christmas pudding
Turkish figs, Medjool dates, walnuts, pistachio nougat from Italy and dark chocolate truffles.

Mushroom Wellington
Makes 2

This dish is time-consuming, but you can prepare it up to the baking stage and freeze it weeks in advance. Before serving, remove the wellington from the freezer and, after thawing, glaze the pastry with beaten egg and put it in a hot oven to bake for 45 minutes at 220C/425F/gas mark 7 until puffed and golden.

600g puff pastry
50ml sunflower oil
675g chopped onions
450g whole chestnut mushrooms
2 tbsp fresh tarragon
4 garlic cloves, crushed
4 tbsp soya sauce or tamari, or replace one with marsala or sherry
320g broken cashew pieces
320g ground almonds
175g fine freshly made breadcrumbs, white or wholemeal
1 egg, beaten for glazing
salt and pepper to taste

  1. Roll out the pastry into two rectangles, 23x30.5cm each, cover and place in the fridge.
  2. To make the filling, heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion with half the crushed garlic for at least 20 minutes or until it turns a deep golden colour. This is crucial, as pale onions will give an insipid mix. Remove onions from the pan and set aside, then add the mushrooms to the same pan with the rest of the garlic and half the tarragon and cook on afairly high heat.
  3. Halfway through cooking, add the soya sauce or tamari and the alcohol, if you are using it. Continue until the mushrooms are cooked through; there should be no white centre left when you cut one open. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside, reserving all the mushroom liquor (the intensely flavoured liquid given out by the mushrooms).
  4. In a food processor or blender, blend the cashews with the reserved mushroom liquor to a fine, smooth purée, adding a little water or even more of whichever alcohol you are using, until you have a smooth, sweet paste or pate.

  1. Remove mixture from the blender and blend first the onions, then mushrooms – you can mix them up if you wish – until they are perfectly smooth.
  2. Mix all the blended ingredients together in a bowl, adding the breadcrumbs, ground almonds and the remaining tarragon. The mixture should gently hold its shape when formed with the hands.
  3. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/gas mark 7. Remove the pastry from the fridge.
  4. Divide the mixture in two and place one lot on a sheet of pastry, shapingwith your hands as you go to make a long rectangular shape about 28cm long, 7cm wide and about 5cm high.
  5. With the thin point of a sharp knife, make diagonal cuts at a 45-degree angle, starting from the left hand corner of the pastry towards the pate mixture. Repeat on the other side, this time starting at the top right hand corner and cutting down towards the centre. The strips should now be about 2cm apart.
  6. Fold in the end pieces first. Then draw a strip over from the left, then one from the right, crossing them over (you can tug lightly at the strips if you need to) so the mix is snugly wrapped up. Repeat for the second wellington.
  7. Either freeze at this stage or glaze generously with beaten egg. Place upon a floured tray, using two fish slices or the loose base of a tart tin to help you. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes until golden.
  8. Allow to cool for a few minutes before attempting to lift onto a serving dish. Once again you'll need the help of some implements.
  9. Allow 2 perfect slices per person, cut with a very sharp serrated or electric knife.

To serve
Place the wellington on your largest platter, surrounded by the roasted vegetables and the braised fennel. The gratin is creamy enough and the vegetables will ooze delicious juices of their own, but you can make a very quick sauce for the wellington if you wish:

Combine a few thinly sliced button mushrooms with a few wild ones. Slowly fry them in a knob of butter, seasoned with a little wine, salt, pepper and thickened with a dash of cream. Good old fashioned cranberry sauce goes very well too.

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    Gratin Dauphinoise
    Serves 8–10

    For this recipe, you can slice the potatoes the day before and keep them in cold water. Just drain them on the day you serve them and proceed with the recipe as set out below. You can even cook the gratin the night before and reheat it in the same oven as the wellington, covered with a piece of buttered foil or baking parchment to stop it from burning. For a really simple side, make Roast Potatoes.

    1kg potatoes
    300ml double cream
    pinch nutmeg
    1 garlic clove, crushed
    50g finely sliced onions
    15g butter
    90g grated gruyere
    salt and pepper to taste

    1. Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.
    2. Slice the potatoes very thinly, either by hand or with the thinnest blade of a food processor - they should be no more than 3mm thick.
    3. Pat the potato slices dry with a tea towel and mix immediately with the cream, nutmeg, garlic, salt, pepper and the finely sliced onion.
    4. Butter an ovenproof dish about 30cm long and 6cm deep. Press most of the potatoes and onion firmly into the dish, finishing with the remaining slices placed neatly on top. Sprinkle with grated Gruyere and bake for 1½ hours until the potatoes are perfectly tender to the tip of a knife and the top is bubbling and golden. Serve at once.

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    Healthy Vegetable Stuffing
    Serves 10

    920g soft breadcrumbs
    115g diced onion
    4 cloves garlic, minced
    115g diced celery
    60g diced green bell pepper
    60g diced red bell pepper
    60g diced yellow pepper
    170g diced courgette
    170g diced yellow squash
    170g diced carrots
    150g sliced mushrooms
    25g fresh parsley
    115g diced shallots
    115g sliced spring onions
    115g frozen corn, thawed
    675ml light vegetable stock

    1. Sauté the onion, garlic, and celery in a few tbsp broth until it turns a pale golden colour.
    2. Mix the rest of the ingredients together and bake at 180C/350F/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes.

    Caramelised Carrots and Parsnips
    Serves 6

    6 carrots
    6 parsnips
    olive oil to coat
    1 tbsp maple syrup
    4cm-piece ginger
    dash Tabasco
    1 mango, sliced
    salt and pepper to taste

    1. Cut the carrots and parsnips in halves or quarters lengthways.
    2. In a bowl combine olive oil, maple syrup, ginger juice (grate the ginger then squeeze out the juice with your fingers), Tabasco, salt and pepper and the mango.
    3. Put the carrots and parsnips in a roasting pan and coat with the mixture.
    4. Roast for 30-40 minutes until crisp and caramelised on the outside and soft inside.

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    Yorkshire Pudding
    Use your favourite recipe or try ours (using vegetable oil). Serve on top of a ragout of mushrooms and glazed onions, alongside the glazed parsnips and carrots with ginger.

    Braised Fennel
    Serves 6

    This dish can be made the day before and reheated slowly before serving.

    4 fennel bulbs, trimmed of their green shoots and quartered
    300ml water
    1 scant tsp marigold bouillon powder
    4 tbsp sunflower or light olive oil
    3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
    salt and pepper to taste

    1. Reserve the fine feathery shoots from the fennel.
    2. Heat half the oil in a heavy based saucepan and add the fennel quarters. Fry them on all sides till catching and burnishing in places. Add the water, bouillon powder, the rest of the oil, sliced garlic and salt and pepper.
    3. Cover with a lid and bring to the boil.
    4. Reduce the heat and simmer gently for 10-12 minutes or until fennel is tender, the liquid is reduced to three-quarters and thickened to a coating sauce.

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    Fig Ice Cream
    Serves 8 (1½ pts)

    This recipe can be made with either double cream, half fat cream or half fat milk and you'll need an ice cream maker. If you don't have one, buy a good vanilla ice cream, gently simmer some sliced dried figs with a little orange juice, a knob of butter, a spoonful of brandy and a spoonful of sugar until the juices thicken to a syrup. Pour the warm mixture over the ice cream.

    4 egg yolks
    100g caster sugar
    600ml double cream
    5 semi-soft dried figs
    1 tbsp rose water
    juice of half a lemon

    1. Pour the cream into a saucepan and slowly heat to boiling point.
    2. Remove from the heat as soon as a bubble breaks, then stir well. Return the mixture to a low heat and stir constantly until the mixture leaves a thin film on the back of a wooden spoon.
    3. Do not let it boil or it will separate.
    4. Remove pan from the heat and leave it until cold. Place the ice cream bowl in the freezer for at least eight hours or according to manufacturer's instructions.
    5. Pour in the mixture according to the manufacturer's instructions.
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