Beetroot Wellington

This takes a little effort, but is well worth it to impress vegan guests.

SERVES 6

PREPARATION TIME 30 minutes, plus cooling, chilling and resting COOKING TIME about 1 hour 35 minutes

● 4-6 beetroots (about 800g)

● 650g chestnut mushrooms

● 2tbsp olive oil

● 50g vegan spread

● 2 banana shallots, finely sliced 3 garlic cloves, crushed

Small bunch tarragon, finely chopped 200ml vegan red wine

● 100g spinach

Plain flour, to dust

500g vegan puff pastry

FOR THE SHALLOT GRAVY

● 2tbsp olive oil

● 4 shallots, finely sliced

● 1tbsp plain flour

● 250ml vegan red wine

● 2 star anise

● 2tsp Marmite

1 Preheat oven to 200°C (180°C fan) mark 6. Wash beetroots, then wrap each one loosely in foil (leaving on some excess water). Put in a roasting tin and roast for 1hr or until the beetroots can easily be pierced with a knife. Set aside to cool slightly before peeling away the skins.

2 Finely chop mushrooms, or pulse in a food processor until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Heat oil with 25g vegan spread in a frying pan and fry shallots for 5min until softened. Add mushrooms and fry over medium-high heat for about

10min, stirring often, until mushrooms are soft and golden. Season well. Add garlic, tarragon and wine, bring up to boil, then simmer for 5-8min until the liquid has been absorbed. Stir through spinach until wilted. The mushroom mixture should be thick enough to hold its shape. Set aside.

3 On a lightly floured surface, roll out ¼ of the pastry to a 30 x 12cm rectangle. Put pastry on a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Prick with a fork; bake for 10-12min until crisp and golden, then press down to flatten pastry and leave to cool.

4 Spread roughly 1/3 of the cooled mushroom mixture on to cooked pastry base. Arrange a row of beetroot on top of the mushroom mixture to make a rectangle about 25 x 8cm (trim the beetroot, if necessary), with flat sides so the beetroot sits flush against each other. Leave the top of the beetroot curved. Season. Use your hands to coat beetroot with remaining mushroom mixture.

5 Roll out remaining pastry to a 30 x 35cm rectangle. Melt remaining vegan spread and brush a little over the pastry. Wrap pastry around beetroot (spread-side down), trim pastry, and tuck edges under cooked pastry to seal. Cut stars or leaves out of pastry trimmings, then brush Wellington with spread and stick on pastry shapes. Chill for 15min.

6 Bake Wellington for 30-35min until golden and pastry is cooked through. Meanwhile, make shallot gravy. In a small pan, heat oil and fry shallots for 15min until golden and sticky. Stir in flour and cook for 1min. Gradually add wine, 200ml water and star anise, bring up to a boil, then simmer until thickened – about 20min. Remove star anise, stir in Marmite and check seasoning. Allow Wellington to rest for 10min before slicing and serving, with gravy alongside.