Beetroot Wellington | Vegan

Hello my lovelies! Something that kept popping up while I searched for fine dining back in the days would be beef Wellington and I have never had this dish before and such going into it and recreating it to a vegan version would of course be interesting. I didn't know what to expect flavour wise even if I can deduce what it should taste like based on the ingredients and this was certainly very exciting. I loved the earthy flavours and the look of this dish and I am happy to share it with all of you.

What you need for "beef":

2 tbsp olive oil

4 shallots

2-3 garlic cloves

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

1 large cooked beetroot

230g smoked tofu

80g walnuts

2 tbsp flour

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp maple syrup

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

What you need for duxelles:

550g portobello mushroom

250g brown champion

1/2 dl ( 0.2 cup ) white wine

3 tbsp olive oil

4 shallots

3-4 garlic cloves

A handful of fresh thyme

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 (250g) package of puff pastry

What you need for garnish:

2-3 tbsp butter to glaze

2 tsp sea salt

Sides you can serve with:

Swedish hasselback potatoes

800g potatoes

30g melted butter

1 tbsp breadcrumbs

1 tsp salt

Serves 4 people.

Preheat oven to 225℃ (435℉)

So begin with rinsing and peeling the potatoes. We are now going to slice thin slices into our potatoes not going through all the way. I find place the potato in a wooden spoon helps prevent that, just keep the spoon stable.

Brush the butter on the potatoes making sure you get in-between the scores, coat with salt and place them in a baking tray making sure the scored part is facing upwards. Pop into the middle of the oven for 45-60 minutes.

Roasted beets and parsnips

2 carrots

2 parsnips

2 cooked beetroots

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp sea salt

Preheat oven to 200℃ (390℉)

Rinse and peel the carrot and parsnip. Dice all of the veggies, coat with olive oil and salt. Pop into the middle of the oven for 40 min.

Earthy sauce

1 onion

2 bay leaves

3 dl water

3-4 tbsp chopped carrots (from our roasted veggies above)

3-4 tbsp chopped parsnip (from our roasted veggies above)

3-4 tbsp chopped beetroot (from our roasted veggies above)

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 1/2 tsp salt

To make this sauce I set aside 3-4 tbsp of both the carrots, beetroot and parsnip from our preparation of our roasted veggies. Add them in a pot along with a chopped onion and olive oil.

Fry the veggies until the onion look translucent. Now add the water, bay leaves, salt and pepper and allow to simmer for about 30 minutes.

Then take it off the heat and allow to cool completely before blending it in a food processor. Once it looks smooth pop it back into the pot and bring up to heat and now it's ready to serve along with your wellington.

I prefer making this part a day in advance as allowing the ¨beef¨and duxelles to set in the fridge not only makes it easier to assemble the wellington but it also brings out more flavour.

Let's begin with our ¨beef¨ bring a pan up to medium high heat, chop the shallots and mince the garlic. Add the olive oil and shallots into the pan and fry until translucent then add the garlic, thyme and rosemary. Fry for a couple of minutes and set aside to cool.

Set your oven to 180℃ (355℉)

In a food processor add your walnuts and blend them until fine, pour into a bowl and set aside for now. Roughly chop up your tofu and beetroot and add it into the food processor along with our fried shallots, smoked paprika, nutritional yeast, maple syrup, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. Blend until it looks smooth and then add the flour and walnuts giving it a good blend until combined.

Place a baking sheet on a baking tray and pour the ¨beef¨onto the centre and using a spatula shape it into a log about 15 cm wide.

Pop it into the middle of the oven for 30 min, once it's done baking set aside to cool. Once cool add cover it with tinfoil and pop it into the fridge over night.

Now to make out duxelles we will begin with washing all of our mushrooms and then chopping them finely along with chopping our shallots, fresh thyme and mincing the garlic.

Bring a large pan up to medium high heat and add the olive oil and shallots. Fry them off until translucent and then add the mushrooms and fry them until they reduce in size and water comes out. Reduce the water to about half and then add the garlic, thyme, salt and pepper and fry until all the water is gone. Pour in the white whine and cook until reduced and set aside to cool completely. Once cool add into a container and pop it into the fridge over night.

Now the day after let's get to assembling out wellington! Begin with taking out the puff pastry so it can warm up a little around 10 min before we roll it out.

Preheat your oven to 220℃ (425℉)

Once it's rolled out cover the centre of the puff pastry with the duxelles, you want it the same size as the bottom of your ¨beef¨ pop the ¨beef¨on top and then cover the top and sides with duxelles as well. Now for trimming the puff pastry at the top and bottom we want pastry that we can use as a closing lid so cut from the bottom up to where the ¨beef¨is on both ends then the sides we will cut at an angle so we can create a braid look to the top.

Once we got that covered brush the top and sides with the butter and sprinkle on sea salt. Pop it into the middle of the oven for 35-40 minutes.