Chestnut Mushroom & Red Onion Sausage Plait

Golden pastry with a meat free mince, red onion and chestnut mushroom filling, topped with toasted sesame seeds. This would be a perfect festive main dish, just serve it along with vegetables, stuffing and gravy

You’ll need;

One teaspoon of oil
Two red onions, thinly sliced from root to tip
350g/12oz meat free mince (I used seitan)
One tablespoon of light soy sauce
One tablespoon of tomato puree
200g/7oz chestnut mushrooms. sliced
One quarter of a teaspoon of dried tarragon, and the same amount of dried parsley
375g/13oz pre-rolled pastry (use puff or shortcrust, whichever you prefer)
Two tablespoons of unsweetened plant milk
One teaspoon of sesame seeds

Method;

Add the oil into a large frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onions and fry for ten minutes, or until softened
Then add the mince and stir it through the onion. Also add in the soy sauce, tomato puree and season with cracked black pepper
Once the onions are fully cooked, set aside. Give it a little time to cool off before storing in the fridge
Next, the mushrooms. In a frying pan over a moderately high heat, add a little oil and saute the mushrooms
Season the mushrooms with a little salt, pepper, and the herbs and cook for around 5 minutes, or until browned. Once cooked set aside, then once they’re cook store those in the fridge too. Now you’re ready to assemble the plait

Assembly;

Allow your pastry to come to room temperature before attempting to unroll it. Once it’s come to temperature, unroll and place it vertically on your working surface
Using a fork, prick a few holes down the centre of the pastry. Then evenly place the mince and onion mixture down the centre of the pastry, then top this with a layer of mushrooms. Be sure to leave a gap at the top and bottom
Then use a sharp knife to cut the left and right sides of the pastry into equal sized strips. Now it should be looking like this
Remove the four outside corners of the pastry, they won’t be needed, but you can cut shapes out of them for decoration if you wish
Tuck the top and bottom pieces of pastry over the filling. Then you can begin wrapping the strips over the filling, alternating between the left and right side as you go
Now you’re ready to brush the pastry all over with the milk. Add pastry decoration too, if using. Finally, evenly sprinkle over the sesame seeds. Now it should look like this
Now it’s ready to be baked. Bake at 220ºC/200ºC fan assisted/400ºF for 25-30 minutes, or until it’s golden brown. Then remove from the oven, allow to stand for five minutes, then slice and serve