Use Cheese for Your Christmas Dinner this Year!

You may recall the other day when I mentioned having cheese as the centrepiece for your Christmas dinner instead of the traditional turkey? And that I'd blog about that idea? 

Well, today's the day!

Roast potatoes, sprouts, gravy and something golden in the middle of the table that everyone wants a slice of. If you fancy a change from turkey this Christmas, bring out a Cheddar and cranberry Wellington and carve it at the table.

Mature Cheddar gives the filling a proper bite, chestnuts and mushrooms make it substantial enough for the main course, and a little cranberry sauce cuts through the richness. Add a few puff pastry holly leaves and you’ve got a Christmas centrepiece worth bringing out whole.

Cheddar, mushroom and cranberry Wellington

Serves 4–6 with trimmings

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

400g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp thyme leaves

150g cooked, peeled chestnuts, roughly chopped

200g mature Cheddar, coarsely grated

3 tbsp cranberry sauce

1 x 320g sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

You can also add bacon lardons if you aren't cooking for vegans and add strips of bacon to cover it, too.

How to make it

Heat the oil in a wide frying pan and soften the onion for about five minutes. Add the mushrooms and fry over a medium-high heat, stirring, until the liquid they release has evaporated. Stir in the garlic and thyme for the final minute. Add the chestnuts, season with black pepper and leave the mixture to cool completely.

Heat the oven to 200°C/180°C fan/gas 6. Unroll the pastry onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment. Stir the Cheddar into the cooled filling and shape the mixture into a compact log down the centre of the pastry, leaving room at both ends to seal it. Spoon a thin stripe of cranberry sauce along the top.

Brush the pastry edges with beaten egg. Fold the pastry over the filling, pinch the seam and ends shut, then turn the Wellington seam-side down. Brush the top with egg and cut two small slits to let steam escape. If you have any pastry offcuts, use them to make holly leaves or stars.

Bake for 30–40 minutes, until the pastry is golden and crisp and the filling is piping hot. Rest for 10 minutes before carving into thick slices.

Keep the Christmas trimmings

Serve with roast potatoes, sprouts, maple-roasted parsnips and a jug of onion gravy. If you’re cooking for vegetarians, choose Cheddar labelled suitable for vegetarians and use vegetable stock in the gravy.

You can make the mushroom and chestnut filling on Christmas Eve and refrigerate it once cooled. Then on Christmas morning, stir in the Cheddar, wrap it in pastry and pop it in the oven.

Further reading:- Waitrose’s mushroom and chestnut Wellington

https://www.waitrose.com/ecom/recipe/mushroom-and-chestnut-wellington

And we'll likely be buying our cheese from Waitrose for this.