This Chestnut and Mushroom Wellington recipe is a very special vegetarian main, served for Christmas dinner or Sunday lunch. The stuffing makes enough for 6 mushrooms, but 500g of puff pastry only makes four individually wrapped Wellingtons. We recently made the recipe for our Vegetarian Christmas cookery class and made stuffing sausage rolls with the left over cuts of pastry and stuffing. They were delicious and perfect would be perfect for a Boxing Day buffet. For gluten free use gluten free puff pastry or simply skip the pastry.
CHESTNUT AND MUSHROOM WELLINGTON
4 large portobella mushrooms
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
CHESTNUT, SAGE AND ONION STUFFING
2 tbsp butter or olive oil
2 stalks celery, finely chopped
2 large onions, diced finely chopped
large handful fresh sage, stems removed and chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp sherry
200g peeled and cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped
100g breadcrumbs, porridge oats or barley flakes are fine too!
salt and pepper
500g block all butter puff pastry or (ready rolled and skip rolling instructions!)
egg or vegan milk for brushing
Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Remove the stalks from the mushrooms and set aside. Mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar together, season with salt and pepper. Baste mushrooms and place on baking tray. Roast for 5-8 minutes in the oven until juices are starting to release from the mushroom. Remove from the oven and place mushrooms, fill side down, on a kitchen towel to drain.
Heat pan over medium, add butter or olive oil (if using butter add a bit of oil, to prevent the butter from burning. Add chopped mushroom stems, celery and onions. Sauté for 5-8 minutes or until onions become translucent. If onions start to brown, lower heat. Add sage and garlic, sauté a couple of minutes. Add port and reduce down until liquid is mostly gone.
In a bowl combine onion mixture, chestnuts and breadcrumbs. Season with salt and pepper and adjust seasoning. Fill mushrooms with stuffing.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the pastry out to the thickness of a £1 coin or large enough to cut out 8 circles. Using a saucer and a larger-size plate, cut out 4 circles about 5cm wider than the mushrooms (for the bottoms) and 4 circles about 10cm wider (for the tops), re-rolling the trimmings if you need to.
Place the 4 smaller circles on a baking tray and place filled mushroom on top of the pastry, stuffing side down. Brush the border to each circle with egg or vegan milk, then gently stretch the larger circle over the mushroom, trying not to trap any air, then press the edges together with a fork. Trim the edges with a knife if you want, then brush each generously with egg or vegan milk. Bake for 30 minutes until golden, then leave to cool for a few minutes before serving.