How to pull off a perfect vegan Christmas dinner

If you’re vegetarian, vegan or plant-curious and beginning your prep for the Christmas period, this ultimate guide to a meat-free dinner from the minds behind BOSH!, Henry Firth and Ian Theasby, is worth bookmarking

Has vegan food ever looked so good? (Lizzie Mayson)

Renowned for its turkey centrepiece, Christmas can be a tricky time for vegans and vegetarians. So why not take a leaf out of BOSH! duo Henry Firth and Ian Theasby’s book Meat: Over 100 Outrageously Tasty Recipes and prove that meat-free meals aren’t boring.

Meat is filled with easy, tasty recipes that will satisfy your meat cravings without compromising on flavour – whether you’re vegan, vegetarian or just want more plants on your plate – which makes it the perfect cookbook to whip out this festive season.

From a mushroom wellington main dish to all the tantalising trimmings, this is how to accomplish a perfect vegan Christmas dinner.

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Roast potatoes

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

100ml olive oil

2kg Maris Piper potatoes

2 tbsp gram flour

2 rosemary sprigs

Sea salt

Method:

(HarperCollins)

Preheat oven to 190C.

Pour the olive oil onto a large baking tray. Place in the oven while you prepare the potatoes.

Peel the potatoes and cut into big chunks. Put the potato chunks in a large saucepan over a medium heat, cover with water and add a sprinkle of salt.

Bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce the heat and cook for 2 minutes.

After 2 minutes, drain the water and leave the potatoes to steam for a couple of minutes until completely dry.

Once the potatoes are dry, remove the baking tray from the oven and add the drained potatoes (being really careful because the oil will be hot) and mix to coat.

Roast the potatoes for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, mix through the gram flour, a good pinch of sea salt and the rosemary sprigs. Mix well and roast for another 20-30 minutes, until golden, crispy and delicious

Wellington

Serves: 6-8

Ingredients:

For the filling:

900g meaty plant-based burgers (about 4 packs)

2 tbsp olive oil

Sea salt and black pepper

Dijon mustard, for brushing the beef

For the mushroom duxelles:

650g chestnut mushrooms

180g cooked chestnuts

1 garlic clove, peeled

Drizzle of olive oil

2 thyme sprigs

Sea salt and black pepper

To assemble:

2 x ready-rolled plant-based puff pastry sheets

Unsweetened almond milk, for brushing

Mixed black and white sesame seeds

Method:

Make the wellington: Put the plant-based burger patties in a large mixing bowl.

Season with salt and pepper and mash with a fork until they all break down and come together.

Use your hands to shape them into one thick sausage shape that will make up the “fillet” in the wellington.

Wrap the sausage in cling film, place on a baking tray and put into the fridge to firm up while you make the mushroom duxelles.

Make the mushroom duxelles.

Clean and halve the chestnut mushrooms, then add them to a food processor with the cooked chestnuts, garlic clove and a pinch each of salt and pepper and blend to a paste.

Heat the drizzle of oil in a large frying pan over a high heat.

Once warm, add the mushroom paste, pick the leaves from the thyme sprigs and add them too.

Mix well and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the paste has dried out.

Once cooked, leave to one side to cool. While the mushroom duxelles is cooling, seal the fillet.

Wipe out the pan you made the duxelles in and heat a drizzle of olive oil in the pan over a high heat.

Remove the cling film from the fillet and add it to the pan.

Sear on each side until evenly browned all over.

Transfer to a plate and brush all over with Dijon mustard, then set aside.

Make the wellington filling:

Lay a large piece of cling film on your work surface and spread the mushroom mixture on top to the width of the fillet.

Lay the fillet at the edge of the mushroom layer.

Tightly roll the fillet into a sausage shape.

Twist the ends of the cling film so it holds tightly together, then refrigerate for 15 minutes to firm up.

Finish the wellington:

Unroll one sheet of puff pastry onto a large baking sheet, keeping the paper on the bottom.

Unwrap the fillet from the cling film and place it on the middle of the pastry sheet.

Brush almond milk a thumbswidth around the edge of the fillet.

Place another pastry sheet over the top of the fillet and press down around the base where the almond milk has been brushed to seal the two pastry sheets together.

Cut around the edge of the pastry, a thumbs-width from the fillet, to make a neat border, keeping any leftover pastry to decorate.

Wrap the wellington tightly in cling film and chill for another 10 minutes, or overnight if you’re super organised.

Preheat oven to 190C. Glaze the wellington.

Remove the cling film and decorate the pastry with the off-cuts if you like, re-rolling and cutting them as necessary - we like to cover the wellington in pastry strips placed diagonally across the top.

Make a hole in the pastry with a chopstick to prevent the pastry from splitting.

Glaze the wellington all over with almond milk and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Cook the wellington: Cook the wellington in the oven for 45-50 minutes, until golden and delicious.

Time to serve. Rest for 15 minutes to allow the juices to settle, then transfer to a cutting board and slice.

Maple-roasted parsnips and carrots

Serves:

Ingredients:

3 large carrots

3 large parsnips

Drizzle of olive oil

40g ground almonds

2 tbsp maple syrup

50g toasted pine nuts

10g flat-leaf parsley

Sea salt and black pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 190C.

Large baking tray. Cut the carrots and parsnips into bite-sized chunks.

Put the chunks on a large baking tray and add the drizzle of olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Mix well until all of the ingredients are coated in the olive oil and cook in the oven for 35 minutes.

After 35 minutes, mix through the ground almonds and maple syrup, and return to the oven for another 5-10 minutes until golden and cooked through.

Remove from the oven and mix through the pine nuts (saving some for the top).

Chop the parsley.

Spoon onto a serving plate and sprinkle with the chopped parsley and some black pepper.

Gravy

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

1 plant-based beef stock pot or OXO cube

300ml boiling water, plus extra when needed

3 red onions

4 garlic cloves

Drizzle of olive oil

2 tsp steak seasoning

1 vegetable stock pot

3 tbsp tomato puree

400ml plant-based red wine (mild flavoured)

3 rosemary sprigs

2 large bay leaves (or 3 small)

1 tbsp yeast extract (we use Marmite)

2 tsp light brown sugar

Sea salt

Method:

Mix the beef stock pot with the boiling water until completely dissolved.

Peel and finely dice the onions, peel and dice the garlic.

Place a large saucepan over a medium heat and add the olive oil.

Once warm, add the onions, garlic and a pinch of salt.

Mix well and cook for 5-10 minutes until the onions start to soften.

Add the steak seasoning, vegetable stock pot, tomato puree, red wine, beef stock, rosemary, bay leaves, yeast extract and brown sugar.

Bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes, adding a splash of water whenever the gravy becomes too thick (we add about 200ml).

Pass the gravy through a sieve (optional, for a smooth gravy).

Once ready to serve, heat the gravy over a medium heat and top up with water until it reaches the consistency you like best (we add about 150ml water).

Bacon sprouts

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

600g Brussels sprouts

1 x 150g pack plant-based bacon

Drizzle of olive oil

Small knob of plant-based butter

½ tbsp maple syrup

½ lemon

Grated plant-based parmesan (optional)

Sea salt and black pepper

Method:

Preheat oven to 190C.

Halve the sprouts and cut the bacon into chunks.

Place the sprouts into a large baking dish, drizzle with the olive oil and sprinkle with a good pinch of salt.

Mix well until all of the sprouts are coated.

Roast in the oven for 15-25 minutes, or until the sprouts are golden and crispy on the outside and cooked through.

While the sprouts are roasting, place a medium saucepan over a medium heat and add the butter.

Once melted, add the bacon chunks, mix well and cook for 5 minutes (or however long it states on the packet).

Once the sprouts are cooked, remove them from the oven and mix through the pan of bacon.

Add the maple syrup and a squeeze of lemon juice (catching any pips in your free hand) and mix again until everything comes together.

Spoon the sprouts onto a serving plate and top with some grated plantbased parmesan (if using) and a pinch of black pepper.

Recipes from ‘BOSH! Meat: Over 100 Outrageously Tasty Recipes’ by Henry Firth and Ian Theasby (HQ, HarperCollins; £22).

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