Christmas when vegan or vegetarian used to just mean a sad nut roast or maybe a collection of side dishes with some veggie gravy granules Not all that delicious. I mean, just because we’re vegan, doesn’t mean we want to miss out on all the delicious and fun food over Christmas and the Holiday period. This is where a show stopping, party dish like this Chestnut, Mushroom & Squash Christmas Filo Wreath Pie comes in!
This recipe does take a little bit of prep, but that’s kind of the point of Christmas food, you take care over it, then bear it triumphantly to the table, to ooohs and ahhhs.. before cutting into the masterpiece you have made and sharing it around. The centrepiece of the show needs to be pretty, and impressive. The side dishes should always be plentiful too. We have plenty of delicious and new festive ideas for you that we will share over the coming weeks.
This Chestnut, Mushroom & Squash Christmas Filo Wreath is a variation on my favourite filo pie, which I make fairly often for parties, but in a pretty wreath form. If you have a bundt tin, or one of those tins with a middle insert, you can use that to create the wreath shape. We didn’t, so improvised with a standard cake tin & a little bowl in the middle, which worked perfectly well.
You could probably get away with using a non-spring form tin, but I do think it is much easier to release the pie from one. We ended up serving the wreath on the base of ours, disguising it with a few sprigs of holly & rosemary.
This delicious Christmas main is worth the effort, as is all good food! Make sure you serve it with all your favourite festive sides. For us it’s always roasted potatoes, some greens and our new favourite vegan stuffing balls (watch this space for the recipes! We’re SO excited by what we have to share with you!)
The perfect pie for a Christmas Festive Main. Full of delicious vegan ingredients.
- 1 pack filo pastry
- 4 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 100 g whole, fresh cranberries
- 100 g whole chestnuts roughly chopped.
- 500 g chestnut mushrooms sliced
- 2 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/3 cup white wine
- 1 tsp thyme
- pinch sale
- 250 g kale leaves only
- 50 g pine nuts
- 1 clove garlic
- 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
- pinch salt
- 1 medium butternut squash peeled, seeds taken out and chopped into cubes
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- pinch salt
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Add all the squash ingredients into a large baking tray and roast on a medium heat (Gas Mark 6/ 200C) until soft and a little browned
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Roughly mash the roasted squash with a masher
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Add all pesto ingredients into a blender or food processor and blend until a chunky paste. Add more oil or salt if needed.
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Add all the mushrooms & garlic into a large pan with the olive oil
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Gently fry until the mushrooms shrink, add the wine & herbs
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Cook until the liquid mostly evaporates.
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Open out the packet of filo pastry & cut the filo pastry into thin triangles (as pictured) - You can cut all the layers together.
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Slick the layers of filo pastry with olive oil and oil the tin. If you are using a little ramekin or bowl to create the centre of the wreath, oil that too.
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Assemble layers of pastry in the base of the pan - Lay the larger end of the triangle on the outside edge, the pointy side facing the 'hole', The pastry should be wide enough to go over the edges of the tin. (This will help form the lid of the pie later)
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Keep layering until the whole pan has 2-3 layers of pastry over it. Add extra oil on some layers if they are a bit dry.
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Now, fill the 'wreath' with the fillings.
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First, smear a thick layer of Kale Pesto
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Then add a layer of the mashed butternut squash
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Add the mushrooms, and sprinkle over the chestnuts and cranberries.
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Finally, carefully close the all the edges of the filo pastry over the filling. You will need to do this bit by bit.
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If there are any gaps in the top of the pie, add some strips of extra pastry.
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Finally, brush with extra oil & bake in the oven until crispy and golden. About 20 minutes. (Gas Mark 6/200C).
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Remove the outer ring from the wreath & take the ramekin or inner bowl out from the middle
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If the pastry is looking a little soggy, add the wreath back into the oven for 5 mins to crisp up.
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Put the whole wreath (bottom of tin and all) onto a pretty plate. Decorate with rosemary sprigs and serve as part of a festive meal!
7 Comments
Suzi
November 19, 2018 at 5:50 pmThis sounds delicious! Could it be assembled in advance and frozen?
Louise-Claire Cayzer
November 19, 2018 at 10:35 pmI’ve frozen similar pies to this, so I think it would work fine. I’d probably freeze in the baking tray to avoid any squishy mishaps. (my freezer is quite crowded, so there isn’t room to test this for us right now! oops!)
Roberta macsween
December 5, 2018 at 7:16 amHello, this looks perfect , and fun, for my young vegan visitor this Christmas. However, she also has a nut allergy . Do you have any tips for replacing the pine nuts and still keeping it tasty ? I’d be very grateful . Thank you
Louise-Claire Cayzer
December 5, 2018 at 9:55 amYou can easily use sunflower seeds or those small green pumpkin seeds to replace pine nuts in any pesto– just make sure they are produced in a nut free factory. You can also omit if you can’t find any- the flavours will still be lovely.
You might want to check that she is ok with chestnuts too? They can also be ommitted- maybe add in extra mushrooms or squash if you feel like it.
Julia King
December 23, 2018 at 1:21 pmLooks lovely….what size cake tin have you used please?
Louise-Claire Cayzer
January 27, 2019 at 1:24 pmThank you!
We used an 11 inch/ 28cm tin.
Julia King
January 27, 2019 at 10:50 pmThank you!