My Festive Lentil, Mushroom and Chestnut Wellington is sure to be a crowd-pleaser this Christmas. Packed full of flavours you would expect to find at Christmas and wrapped up in puff pastry. What is not to like?
This recipe is easily adapted to most dietary requirements. Swap the butter pastry to a butter-free puff pastry and swap the egg glaze for a mylk wash to give the pastry a lovely golden glow.
To make the wellington gluten-free use a gluten-free pastry and gluten-free oats. If you can’t find the oats, use 100g gluten-free flour in place of the oats and rice flour.
You can also swap a few ingredients around to suit what you fancy. If your festive tipple is not port, you could swap it for red wine, cognac or even keep it alcohol-free by using a little stock. Other herbs that would work well in this wellington include thyme, parsley or marjoram. You could also use dried herbs, but watch out as these can really pack a punch, so half a teaspoon should be plenty to give flavour. You could even change the almonds for alternative nuts such as pistachios or walnuts to give different dietary nutrients; walnuts are the only tree nut to contain significant amounts of alpha-linolenic acid, a type of omega-3 fatty acid which can be converted in the body to EPA and DHA fats found in oily fish. Great for anyone following a strictly plant-based diet or for those who don’t eat fish.
Serves 6-8
Ingredient
- 120g green lentils
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 1 red onion, finely diced
- 200g mushrooms, finely diced
- 10 sage leaves, sliced
- 50g almonds, roughly chopped
- 90g cooked chestnuts, roughly chopped
- 50g dried cranberries
- 60ml port
- 50g rice flour
- 50g cut oats
- 400g puff pastry
- 1 egg, beaten
Method
- Wash the lentils in cold water. Add the bay leaves and bring the lentils to the boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes till the lentils are soft.
- Meanwhile cook the oil and onion together over a low heat till soft and translucent.
- Add the mushrooms to the onions and cook the mushrooms till the juices start to thicken slightly. Add the sage and cook for a further minute till fragrant.
- Once the lentils are cooked, drain, remove the bay leaves and lightly mash. Add the mushroom mixture to the lentils followed by the almonds, chestnuts, cranberries, port, flour and cut oats. Mix to combine and season to taste.
- Allow the mixture to cool completely.
- Preheat the oven to 180°C fan/ 200°C convection.
- Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
- Roll the pastry into a 35cm by 25cm rectangle. Cut lengthways down to make a 10cm by 35cm smaller rectangle. Remove 2cm from this piece to create a rectangle approximately 10cm by 33cm.
- Place the now cooled mixture on this smaller rectangle of pastry, leaving a 1cm gap all around the edge, into a large log shape from short end to short end.
- Using the egg, paint over the pastry seam. Lift the remaining larger rectangle of pastry over the mixture and press the pastry to seal with a fork.
- Trim any excess pastry and use it to decorate the top of the pie.
- Cut a small hole in the top of the wellington to allow the steam to escape and glaze the whole pie with an egg wash.
- Bake the wellington for 25-30 minutes till golden brown all over.
Per sixth: 629kcal/ 25.3 fat/ 13.1g saturated fat/ 60.8g carbohydrates/ 8.0g fibre/ 18.3g protein
[…] Festive lentil, mushroom and chestnut wellington […]