Mighty meat free stew Make your own...

WITH plunging temperatures, January always seems like the most counter-intuitive month to start cutting back on calories. So try this delicious winter stew, which hits all the right flavour notes but contains far less fat – because it’s vegan. Instead of beef and bacon, this one’s packed with mushrooms – portobello, shitake, chestnut and porcini. Serve with mashed root vegetables.

INGREDIENTS: SERVES 4

250g portobello mushrooms, cut into thick slices 150g shitake mushrooms, whole 300g chestnut mushrooms, halved Small bunch of thyme Small bunch of rosemary 1 large bay leaf Sea salt and black pepper Olive oil 1 tbsp tomato puree 750ml bottle red burgundy 400g shallots, whole 1 large carrot, diced Vegetable stock cube 10g dried porcini Half a cup plain flour

Preheat the oven to 180C Fry the mushrooms in a large pan with some olive oil (in batches) to brown them, then to the same pan add the bay leaf, thyme and rosemary (keep a sprig for later). Season and pour in the bottle of red wine. Turn off the heat, cover and leave to marinate for about an hour.

Top, tail and peel the shallots but leave them whole. Brown and soften them with the carrot in a large casserole dish on the hob.

Add the mushrooms (but not the wine), puree and a sprig of rosemary, and turn off the heat.

For the red wine, turn the heat up high, add the stock cube and porcini, and reduce the liquid by about a third.

Pour the reduced liquid into the casserole dish, add the flour and place in the oven for about 45 minutes.