Vegan Festive Slice

Golden puff pastry topped with a crispy crumb, filled with meat free turkey and bacon, in a creamy sage, onion and cranberry sauce. It’s my veganised version of the festive bake from Greggs, because vegans want festive pasties too!

Yield; Four pasties Cook time; 40 minutes

You’ll need;

One tablespoon of oil
One small brown onion, finely chopped
150g mock chicken, chopped into bite sized pieces. I used No Chick strips which I bought from Iceland
60g mock bacon, diced. I used This Isn’t bacon which I bought from Tesco, but you can also buy it from ASSDA and Sainsbury’s too
Half a teaspoon of dried sage
150ml plant milk, plus another couple of tablespoons to glaze the pastry with. The milk doesn’t have to be unsweetened, but make sure it’s no sweeter than dairy milk. So no more than 5 grams of sugar per 100ml
350g silken tofu
A few teaspoons of cranberry sauce
375g of ready rolled puff pastry
A couple of tablespoons of breadcrumbs

Method;

Start by making the thickened cream sauce. You just add 150ml plant milk and 350g silken tofu into a blender, and blend until smooth. That’s it! Once you’ve done that you can set it aside. We will be using 150ml of the cream you just made, so you can use the rest in other recipes. It’s great in pasta sauce, curry sauce, soups and more
Next we can move on to making the filling. Start by heating the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat. Once it’s warmed up, add the onion and allow it to soften for five minutes
Next you can add in the mock meat, and stir it through the onion. Give the mix ten minutes to cook, then add in 150ml of the thickened cream. Season to taste with a little salt and pepper. I just added a little pepper, as I felt there was already enough salt from the mock meats, but you can always add salt if you prefer
After you’ve given the cream around five minutes to heat through, then you can set it aside
Now you can assemble the pasties. Take the pastry out of the fridge and allow it to come to room temperature before unrolling. Split the pastry into four equal sized pieces, brush the edges with a little milk, and spoon one quarter of the filling onto each. Top the filling with a couple of teaspoons of the cranberry sauce, now they’re ready to be sealed
Carefully fold the pastry over the filling, pressing down the edges to seal them. Press a fork down into the edges to ensure they’re properly sealed. Poke a few holes in the top, this will allow and steam to escape while they bake. Finally brush some milk over the pastry, and sprinkle over some of the breadcrumbs
Now they’re ready to be baked. Bake the pasties at 180°C/160°C fan assisted/350°F for around 18-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow them to cool for ten minutes before serving, they can also be eaten cold if preferred