Jamie Oliver’s Veggie Crown

by Jamie Oliver from Together: Memorable Meals, Made Easy

Serves 8

For a show-stopping vegetarian main this Christmas, try Jamie's veggie crown, made with slow-roasted vegetables, cheddar, and grains.

From the book

Together

Jamie Oliver

Together: Memorable Meals, Made Easy

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Introduction

I have to say, I’m pretty proud of this one – it’s a fantastic veggie main inspired by the textures of a Scottish clootie dumpling, and it also makes a tasty alternative to stuffing if any meat eaters fancy a little slice with their meal.

Ingredients

¼ of a	butternut squash (300g)
2	carrots
200g	raw beetroot
2	red onions
1 bunch of	thyme (20g)
10g	dried porcini mushrooms
400g	self-raising flour
1 tsp	baking powder
100g	vegetable suet
250g	pouch of cooked mixed grains
180g	vac-packed chestnuts or shelled unsalted walnut halves
50g	Cheddar cheese
1	whole nutmeg, for grating
6	sun-dried tomatoes
1	large egg
150ml	semi-skimmed milk
	unsalted butter

Essential kit

You will need: a 2-litre non-stick bundt tin, pudding basin or 23cm springform cake tin.

Method

Get ahead: Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Scrub the squash, carrots and beets, and chop into 3cm chunks. Peel and quarter the onions. Place it all in a roasting tray, keeping each veg separate. Strip over the thyme leaves, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and add a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, jiggling the tray to coat. Roast for 1 hour, then remove and leave to cool.

Soak the porcini in 100ml of boiling kettle water. Place the flour, baking powder, suet and grains in a large bowl, crumble in the chestnuts and add a pinch of salt and pepper. Coarsely grate in the Cheddar and finely grate in half the nutmeg. Scoop out the porcini, finely chop with the sun-dried tomatoes and add to the mix, then pour in the porcini soaking water, discarding just the last gritty bit. Beat the egg into the milk, and stir it all together. Mix in the cool roasted veg, taking care not to break them up, and adding an extra splash of milk to bring it together, if needed. Generously grease a 2-litre non-stick bundt tin, pudding basin or 23cm springform cake tin with butter, pack in the mixture, cover with greaseproof paper and a tight double layer of tin foil, then refrigerate overnight.

To serve: Preheat the oven to 190ºC. Roast the veggie crown above the meat for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until crisp at the edges, then turn out, slice and serve. It will sit happily, covered, for up to 40 minutes before serving, if needed.

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