Discover this months cosy recipes, perfectly paired with a REAL drink!
Need an alternative to nut roast for veggies and vegans on Christmas Day? Try this festive and filling roasted cauliflower stuffed with kale and chestnuts
Ingredients
- 1 large or 2 small cauliflowers (about 850g)
- 5 tbsp olive oil
- 4 tbsp breadcrumbs
- 250g kale chopped
- 1 tbsp milled linseed
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 garlic cloves chopped
- ½ small pack sage leaves chopped
- ½ small pack rosemary leaves chopped
- 150g cooked chestnuts finely chopped, plus 30g for the topping
- 2 lemons zested
- Good grating nutmeg
- step 1 Trim and discard the cauliflower leaves. Turn the cauliflower upside-down on a chopping board and use your knife to carefully cut out the stalk and core, leaving a cavity – the florets should still be holding together.
- step 2 Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Submerge the cauliflower and cook for 7 mins, then remove with two slotted spoons and set aside to steam dry. Add the kale to the pan and cook for a min or so until wilted. Drain, then run under cold water to cool. Squeeze out the excess liquid and roughly chop.
- step 3 To make a linseed ‘egg’ (this will bind the stuffing together), mix the ground linseed with 3 tbsp water and set aside for 5-10 mins until gluey. Meanwhile, heat 2 tbsp oil in a frying pan, add the onion and a pinch of salt, and cook until softened, then stir in the remaining stuffing ingredients, including the kale, and cook for a min or so more. Remove from the heat and season, then put in a blender with 150ml water and the linseed egg and blitz to a thick purée. Transfer to a piping bag.
- step 4 Pipe the stuffing mixture into every nook and cranny of the cauliflower, getting in as much of the purée as you can – see our tip below. Transfer to a baking tray lined with parchment. Can be made up to this point in the morning and kept in the fridge.
- step 5
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Mix the remaining chestnuts with the breadcrumbs and some seasoning. Spoon the remaining oil all over the cauliflower, then pat on the breadcrumb chestnut mix. Roast for 45 mins until golden brown and tender (place under a hot grill for the last part of cooking time if it needs to crisp-up). Serve with any crisp bits that have fallen onto the baking tray.
Spiced squash, feta & beetroot wellington
Make a veggie wellington with squash, beetroot and feta, all encased in puff pastry, as a showstopping main for Christmas
Ingredients
- 1 large butternut squash (about 1kg), peeled and trimmed (see tip below)
- 10 sage leaves
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp ground mixed spice
- ½ tsp ground mace
- 4 large shallots thickly sliced
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 75g pecans roughly chopped
- 25g dried cranberries roughly chopped
- 400g cooked beetroot roughly chopped
- 200g feta crumbled
- 500g all-butter puff pastry
- plain flour for dusting
- 1 egg beaten, to glaze
- 1 tsp nigella seeds
- 25g butter
Method
-
step 1
Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6. Cut the squash in half lengthways, scoop out the seeds and set aside. Continue to scrape down the centre of both squash halves to carve out a roughly 2cm deep channel. If it’s tough, you can score with a knife and scoop out. Roughly chop the scooped-out squash and add to the seeds. Finely chop half the sage leaves. Pour the oil into a large roasting tin and stir in the chopped sage, mixed spice, mace and some seasoning. Tip the reserved seeds, chopped squash, squash halves and shallots into the tin and toss well. Roast for 30 mins until the squash and shallots are caramelised. Add the maple syrup, vinegar and pecans, and roast for 15 mins more until the nuts are toasted. Stir through the cranberries and leave to cool. Season well and set aside. Can be made up to a day ahead and chilled.
-
step 2
Meanwhile, tip the beetroot and feta into a food processor. Blitz to a smooth, thick paste, adding a splash of water if needed. Season with black pepper and chill. Can be made up to a day ahead and kept chilled.
-
step 3
Cut about a third of the pastry off and roll out on a lightly floured surface to an oval of about 25 x 16cm, making sure it fits the squash – roll it out a little more if needed. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with baking parchment. Spread a third of the beetroot mixture over the pastry, leaving a generous border. Pack the squash and shallot mixture into the cavities of the squash halves, and press down with your hands to ensure it’s well packed. Sandwich the squash halves together, then put in the middle of the pastry. Spread the remaining beetroot mixture over the top and sides of the squash so it’s completely covered. Brush the exposed pastry with beaten egg.
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step 4
Roll out the second piece of pastry into an oval larger than the base, about 40 x 30cm. Lay the pastry carefully over the beetroot-covered squash, pressing down the edges lightly to seal, making sure you work from one end to the next so you don’t seal in too much air. Trim any excess pastry and, using a fork, press down all around the edges to seal. Cut any trimmings into leaf or star shapes to decorate the top, if you like. Brush beaten egg all over the wellington, top with the pastry decorations, if using, and brush with egg again. Sprinkle over the nigella seeds and a pinch of sea salt flakes
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step 5
Chill, uncovered, for at least 30 mins, or up to 2 hrs. Heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 with a baking tray inside to heat up. Carefully slide the wellington onto the tray. Cook for 40-45 mins until deeply golden. Leave to rest for 10 mins. You can freeze the wellington, uncovered, on a baking tray until solid, then wrap in cling film, then foil. Will keep frozen for two months.
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step 6
While the wellington is resting, melt the butter in a pan over amedium-high heat. Once it starts to foam, add the remaining sage leaves and fry on each side for 30 seconds1 min until crisp. Arrange the leaves on the wellington and spoon over the melted butter. Cut into thick slices.
Make this vegan Christmas pudding as part of a festive feast, packed with dried figs, raisins, sultanas and a tot of rum. Serve warm with vegan ice cream.
Ingredients
- 125g dairy-free margarine
plus extra for greasing the bowl and paper
- 375g dried figs
- 75ml rum
- 350g mixed sultanas and raisins
- 1 large eating apple
peeled, cored and grated
- 85g light brown soft sugar
- 85g dark brown soft sugar
- 100g breadcrumbs
- 100g self-raising flour
- ½ tbsp allspice
Method
-
step 1
Grease a 2-litre pudding bowl with dairy-free margarine, then line the base with a circle of baking parchment. Grease a large sheet of baking parchment, then lay it on top of a large sheet of foil, margarine side up. Fold a pleat in the middle of each sheet. -
step 2
Roughly chop 125g of the figs and set aside. Put the remaining figs, the dairy-free margarine and the rum into a large food processor and whizz until smooth-ish, then scrape into a large mixing bowl. Tip in the chopped figs, sultanas, raisins, grated apple, sugars, breadcrumbs, flour and allspice. Stir everything together, then spoon into your pudding basin. -
step 3
Cover with the buttered paper-foil sheet, tie with string and trim. Lower into a large saucepan, with upturned saucers or scrunched-up bits of foil in the bottom (so the pud doesn’t touch the bottom), then fill the pan with enough boiling water from the kettle to come halfway up the sides of the bowl. Cover with a lid and simmer for 3 hrs, topping up the water as needed. Remove and leave to cool. Will keep in a cool, dry cupboard for up to a year.