For today’s recipe I had to experiment a bit, follow my intuition and most importantly, go out of my comfort zone. Beef Wellington was something I had done in the past, and it was a success but also a rather technical recipe. The Christmas Vegetarian Wellington recipe is much easier, and even though I had to make doodles and tons of research to achieve the result I got today, I am proud of the results.
This is the second post of my ultimate vegetarian christmas dinner menu series that will continue until before christmas. Next week I will be sharing my favorite desserts (if I don’t drastically fail at doing so) and then you will all be ready to attack your merry veggie christmas dinners.
Christmas Vegetarian Wellington: The Ingredients
When I was coming up with a recipe for this dish, I stressed out a lot because I thought I needed fancy ingredients, and fancy spices and fancy things I did not have. But, after trying it out with basic ingredients, it all came out perfectly with ingredients that your vegetarian fridge and pantry already have.
FYI I ended up doing a lot of filling because I wanted to have some extra filling leftover to try another recipe which is why the preparation pictures might have a lot of food. If you want to have less filling, reduce the amount of vegetables. I give you some directions with each ingredient. If you are into meal prepping though, I suggest you do all the filling as per my instructions and you use the rest later.
- Generous amount of olive oil
- 2 small onions (diced).
- 1 large eggplant (diced): For less filling: half of this, or 1 small eggplant.
- 4 small carrots (diced): For less filling: 2 small carrots.
- 3 celery sticks (diced): For less filling: 2 celery sticks. Leave some of the leaves aside to use them later.
- 1 cup of lentils
- 3 cups of vegetable broth
- Spices: 2 tbsp basil (Dried), 2 tbsp laurel (Dried), 2 tbsp garlic powder and 1 tbsp Paprika
- 1 cup of breadcrumbs or panko
- 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Puff pastry
- Egg wash (a bit of water + 1 egg)
Christmas Vegetarian Wellington side dishes
I served my vegetarian wellington with some green beans and a white onion gravy. I prepared the two side dishes while the Vegetarian Wellington was in the oven.
For the green beans:
- 500g green beans
- Water (to boil them in)
- Butter
- Salt & pepper to taste
For the gravy:
- 1 small onion
- 5 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 1 cup milk
- 1 tbsp nutmeg
- Salt and pepper to taste
Christmas Vegetarian Wellington: How to make this beauty?
This was a challenge because of the research I had to do and because I had never done this before. But once I did I realised how simple the process was. Obviously, we are cooking an elaborate dish for a christmas dinner, so it is not your casual dinner at home after a long day at work.
The main part of the cooking process is the lentil filling. Put all vegetables in a pot, cook for a bit, add the lentils and spices. You add the vegetable broth cups gradually and you let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes until there is no liquid left. It is kinda like making risotto but with lentils.
The two important things you need to keep in mind:
- The filling must be juicy but not WATERY. If it has a bit of water, the bottom of our pastry will end up super soggy and we do not want soggy bottoms. If you feel that your filling is on the watery side after adding the breadcrumbs/nutritional yeast, add a bit more.
- Taste the lentil filling as it cooks and adjust. If it needs more salt, go ahead and add more salt, if it needs more basil, go ahead. My measurements are good for our taste, but maybe you are more into basil-based flavors, or even more spicy and then you can add some chili or something similar.
If you keep these two things in mind, and you follow the recipe below, you are going to do great and you will end up with an amazing looking Christmas Vegetarian Wellington like this one.
Some questions
Can I make this vegan?
The only reason why my Christmas Vegetarian Wellington isn’t vegan is the puff pastry. If you replace the puff pastry for a vegan puff pastry, you are good to go.
If you are making the green beans and the gravy, replace the butter for vegan butter and the milk for vegan milk!
Can I prepare this ahead?
Yes! If you don’t have much time on the day of the party to make it, you can totally prepare this one or two days before. A tip : Reheat it in the oven, it will taste better.
I don’t like lentils, can I switch them for chickpeas?
I used lentils cause they are the cheapest, easiest to find in France (dry). But this recipe would work with chickpeas or any other type of bean.
Christmas Vegetarian Wellington
Ingredients
Christmas Vegetarian Wellington
- 2 small onions Diced
- 1 large eggplant Diced
- 4 small carrots Diced
- 3 sticks celery Diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 cup green lentils Dry
- 3 cups vegetable broth
- 2 tbsp basil
- 2 tbsp laurel
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 large puff pastry (Or 2 round small ones like I used)
- 1 egg (for the eggwash)
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Green Beans
- 500 gr green beans
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- Salt & Pepper to taste
White Gravy
- 1 small onion Diced
- 5 tbsp butter
- 1/2 cup flour
- 2 cups veggie broth
- 1 cup milk
- 1/2 tbsp nutmeg
- Salt & Pepper to taste
Instructions
Christmas Vegetarian Wellington
- Reheat the olive oil in a large pot. When hot, add the onions and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the eggplant and celery and mix well. Cook for 2-3 minutes
- Add the lentils and mix well.
- Add all the spices and mix well.
- Cook for 2-3 minutes at medium-high temperature but careful that it doesn't stick/burn the bottom.
- Add 1 cup of vegetable broth and cover with a lid. Let simmer for 10 minutes, monitoring the broth levels.
- Add the carrots and mix well.
- Continue adding broth as it disappears until the lentils are fully cooked and there is barely any broth left. I cooked my filling for a total of 20 more minutes.
- Depending on the puff pastry you use, you will need to put it out of the fridge/freeze some minutes before placing it in the oven. I took mine out 10 minutes before the filling was over. I pre-heated the oven at 180ºC around the same time.
- In a large bowl, add 4 cups of filling and mix with the breadcrumbs and the nutritional yeast. Taste, if it is to your liking, you can start preparing the wellington. If not, adjust salt & pepper to your taste.
- To wrap the wellington: Place the filling in the middle, leaving enough space on the sides so that you can fully wrap the filling. Pick up one side and bring it over the loaf so it is all covered and wrapped.
- Brush the top and sides with the egg wash.
- With a sharp knife, make diagnoal cuts across the top. You can either make only one side, or do like I did and cut across the other side and end up with criss-cross cuts.
- Put in the oven and cook for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
- Let sit for 10 minutes and enjoy.
Green Beans
- In a large pot, bring water to a boil and add the green beans.
- Cook for about 10 minutes or until soft (but still a bit crunchy)
- Drain the water and in a large pot, reheat olive oil or butter.
- Sautée the green beans until they get a nice brown color.
- Serve and enjoy.
White Gravy
- Reheat the butter in a large-non sticky pan. When hot, add the onions.
- Cook the onions for 3 to 5 minutes until they look transparent and start to gold.
- Add the flour and mix well. Continue to stir for about 2 to three minutes.
- Add the spices. Mix well.
- Add the veggie broth and the milk and continue to stir till the texture is on the soft side.
- You can either serve it like this, or pulse it a couple of times with a blender to have a softer texture.
Tag @tofu_cado on Instagram and hashtag it #tofucado and tell me your experience with this recipe!
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