We are nearly there, guys! For me personally, Christmas is supposed to start tomorrow night as Poland is one of those countries for which Christmas Eve dinner is the official opener and probably the most important gathering of the entire Christmas period.
Typically, I would either fly home or perhaps dare to host for the first time (although it is a lot of pressure and I am not my mum, I am not sure I could pull it off) but as the pandemic has paralysed the entire world’s plans, I am staying home and not planning anything special (don’t tell my mum). We are instead having a festive meal with a couple of friends on the 25th, Anglo-saxon style. I am a bit sad not to be with my family for Christmas and it’s kind of silly as my visits home are always a little bittersweet, if I am completely honest. We all love being in each other’s company to begin with, but there is always strife by the end of it. That’s the sad truth and it is perhaps why I feel conflicted about Christmas. I want to enjoy it but I am also very careful not to get my hopes up and to be realistic about how things may turn out. We grow up believing that family is where we can truly belong, but it’s the people closest to us that can also hurt us the most. So this year things are very low key for us. We are going over to our friends’ house, which they have only just bought and we are excited to see it and hear what they plan to do to it. We’ve split the cooking up between us and our friends so that no one has to slave by the stove for hours on end. I am making this very dish and gravy and Duncan is in charge of making a sticky toffee pudding. It will be lovely to socialise in person at last and to put our feet up for a few days straight after that as we are both exhausted to be honest. Today’s dish is based on my much loved mushroom sausage roll recipe from last year. Golden puff pastry filled with a beautiful mixture of earthy mushrooms and smoky tofu, flavoured with winter herbs and some soy sauce and a smidge of fiery mustard. Compared to my other centrepieces (this one and that one), this dish is pretty simple to make – I resisted the temptation to make it super fancy – so if you are looking for something that doesn’t require a huge amount of effort but looks festive and ticks all of the flavour boxes, give this recipe a go. I paired it with a mushroom miso gravy but that’s optional, a jar of quality cranberry sauce will work well too. Enjoy and Merry Xmas!
20 g / 0.7 oz dry mushrooms (I used a mixture of porcini and shiitake), well rinsed 2 tbsp olive oil 2 large shallots (I used scallion type), roughly diced 6 garlic cloves, unpeeled and crushed 2 small carrots, scrubbed clean and roughly diced 2 celery sticks, roughly diced 2 tsp tomato paste 1 sprig of fresh rosemary, whole 6 sprigs of fresh thyme, whole 4 sage leaves, roughly chopped 120 ml / ½ cup vegan white wine 1 fresh or dried bay leaf 10 black peppercorns 1 tbsp white / shiro miso 1 tbsp nutritional yeast 2 tsp vegan Worcester sauce 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar 1 tsp maple syrup or sugar salt, to taste (if needed) 2 tsp cornstarch / cornflour
