Individual mushroom Wellingtons

Serves 4

The trick here is to tuck the pastry tightly around the mushrooms, making sure there are no air bubbles, so that it shrinks as the mushrooms cook and reduce. Serve with steamed green beans and simply boiled salad potatoes.

— 2 tbsp olive oil

— 3 shallots, finely chopped — 4 large garlic cloves,

minced

— 200g green lentils, rinsed

and drained

— 2 bay leaves

— 1 vegetable stock cube — 1½ tsp Marmite

— 4 large portobello

mushrooms, trimmed — 100g kale, leaves torn and

stems removed

— juice of ½ lemon

— 2 sheets of vegan readymade puff pastry, thawed if frozen

— flour, for dusting

Heat a tablespoon of the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Add the shallots to the pan, season and sweat for 2-3 minutes, until translucent. Stir in the garlic and sauté for 1-2 minutes, then add the lentils, the bay leaves, 750ml water and the stock cube. Stir to dissolve the stock cube, bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 40 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been absorbed and the lentils are tender and almost cooked through.

Stir the Marmite through the lentils and simmer for a further 5-10 minutes, or until all the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and leave to cool, then spoon the mixture over the mushrooms. Set the lentilstuffed mushrooms aside.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the torn kale, season generously and heat, stirring occasionally, until gently wilted. Squeeze over the lemon juice and set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 220C/ gas mark 7.

Roll the pastry sheets out slightly on a floured work surface to enlarge each one by about a third, then use a saucer as a template to cut out eight pastry circles. Cut simple leaf-shaped decorations out of the excess pastry.

Place a small heap of kale in the centre of four pastry circles and lay a mushroom on top of each, lentilstuffed-side down. Place the remaining pastry circles on top (rolling them out a little more first if you need to for fit) and pinch the sides together with a fork. Trim off any excess pastry and tuck in any gaps as you go, ensuring there are no air bubbles around the mushrooms.

Gently press two pastry leaves on to each Wellington and bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden and crisp. Leave to cool slightly before serving.