
Vegan Cauliflower Wellington with Vegetable Jus
The classic Wellington made vegan-friendly with cauliflower
- Serves: 4 |
- Difficulty: moderate
- Prep Time : 20 mins |
- Cook Time : 30 mins


Ingredients
Wellington Assembly
To put the Wellington together you will need:
1 x medium oven-roasted cauliflower
6 x spinach leaves, steamed or blanched
1 x large lentil crepe
250 g vegan pastry
Oven Roasted Cauliflower
1 medium cauliflower
1 Tbsp (15 ml) fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) fresh sage, chopped
3 Tbsp (45 ml) Dijon mustard
½ tsp (2,5 ml) salt
ground black pepper
Duxelle (mushroom mixture)
¼ C (60 ml) olive oil
2 garlic cloves with skin left on
½ C (125 ml) walnuts, chopped
1½ (7,5) tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) fresh sage, chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) parsley, chopped
½ tsp (2,5 ml) salt
freshly ground black pepper
Lentil Crepe
1 cup Lentils (covered in water and soaked for 4 hours)
½ tsp (2,5 ml) minced ginger
1 garlic clove
6 curry leaves
½ tsp (5 ml) coriander, finely chopped
1 small piece green chilli (or ¼ tsp minced green chilli)
oil for cooking
Vegan Pastry
Vegetable Jus
1 whole medium-sized cabbage whole roasted for three hours (roast until black and completely soft on the inside)
2 carrots, peeled and roughly cut
2 onions, peeled and roughly cut
2 celery sticks, roughly cut
100 g button mushrooms
3 whole tomatoes
1 Tbsp (15 ml) tomato paste
2 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
2 garlic cloves
2 cloves
1 C (250 ml) vegan-friendly red wine
2 litres vegetable stock
⅖ C (100 ml) soy sauce
20 g dried porcini mushrooms, hydrated and chopped (or fresh if available)
30 g sundried tomato, chopped
Method
Oven Roasted Cauliflower
Preheat the oven to 180 ºC.
Combine the vegan butter/margarine with the thyme, sage, mustard, salt and pepper. Rub this seasoning mixture all over the cauliflower.
Cover the whole cauliflower with foil and bake for 30 min, season again and continue baking until golden brown.
Remove and allow to cool.
Duxelles (mushroom mixture)
Add the olive oil to a saucepan and heat. Place the mushrooms and whole garlic cloves into the saucepan and sauté for a minute.
Add the thyme and sage and continue cooking until soft. Remove the mixture from the saucepan and allow to cool. Remove the whole garlic cloves.
Add the cooled mixture to a food processor and pulse to finely chop (this can be done manually).
Peel the garlic cloves, mince and then add to the mix.
Add chopped parsley with chopped walnuts. Check the seasoning and adjust to taste,
Lentil Crepe
In a blender, blend the lentils with enough water to make a paste-like consistency. Always start with less water and add as required until it reaches the desired consistency. You want the same consistency as a regular crepe batter, which can easily be spread in a pan.
Add the ginger, garlic, salt, curry leaves, coriander and chilli. Blitz until smooth.
Heat a medium-sized, flat non-stick pan and brush with oil.
Add batter to the pan and spread to form a thin crepe. When almost done, flip and cook other side. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Vegan Pastry
Wellington Assembly
Preheat the oven to 220 ºC.
On a floured surface, place 1 pastry sheet; roll the pastry or dough out to a 2-2.5 mm with a radius of 35 cm.
Lay the lentil crepe on top of the pastry, followed by a layer of blanched spinach leaves. Top with mushroom duxelles, spread evenly.
Place the cauliflower on top of duxelles with florets facing down into the duxelles.
Wrap the pastry up into a ball and seal. Brush lightly with vegan butter or soya milk.
Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown.
Vegetable Jus
Remove outer leaves from cabbage and cut into bite-size chunks. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large pan. Sauté the onion, carrot, celery and garlic until softened and browned.
Add the button mushrooms followed by the tomatoes and tomato paste. Add the cabbage chunks.
Deglaze the pan with the wine and then add the stock and soy sauce.
Continue to cook for 45-60 minutes.
Strain the sauce and return the liquid to the heat. Continue to simmer to reduce by half and then add the sun-dried tomatoes and the porcini mushrooms.
If the sauce needs to be thickened this can be done with a little cornflour.
Serve the Cauliflower Wellington with the vegetable jus on the side.
Serve with Hasselback Sweet Potatoes and Asparagus, Broccoli and Fine Bean Salad.