The elegant, meat-free party season centrepiece of your dreams, packed with festive flavours, easy to prepare and ideal for rustling up in advance.
If you’re not a fan of blue cheese, brie or camembert work equally well. As for the Hollandaise Sauce to serve: fresh versions are readily available in supermarket chiller cabinets – just don’t tell anybody that I told you that!
Ingredients (serves 6)
1 tbsp butter
500g leeks, trimmed and sliced
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and grated or crushed
½ tbsp dried thyme
200g baby spinach, finely-chopped
415g can chestnut puree
200g vacuum-packed whole packed chestnuts, halved
220g blue cheese (eg. Stilton), rind trimmed and diced
3 large eggs (plus 1 egg for glazing)
90g fresh white breadcrumbs
½ nutmeg, grated
500g pack of all-butter puff pastry
To serve: Hollandaise Sauce (see note above), new potatoes, seasonal greens
Method
Melt the butter in a large frying pan. Add the leeks and sauté gently (stirring occasionally) for 10 minutes or until soft and silky, adding the garlic and dried time for the last minute of cooking time. Tip into a large bowl.
Add the chopped spinach, chestnut purée, chopped chestnuts, blue cheese, breadcrumbs, nutmeg and eggs to the cooked leeks. Season well and stir until thoroughly combined, then chill for at least 1 hour (or up to 24 hours) to allow the mixture to firm up.
When you’re ready to assemble the en croute, roll the pastry out on a lightly-floured surface to create a rectangle large enough to completely enclose the filling and carefully lift onto a large, baking paper-lined baking tray. Brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg and spoon the filling down one half of the length of the pastry, leaving the ends clear. Tuck the ends in, then firmly lift up the other side of the pastry to wrap around the filling. Trim any excess pastry, brush the entire en croute with beaten egg and make a few holes in the top to allow steam to escape as it cooks. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 190c/gas mark 5. Slide the en croute into the oven and bake for around 30-40 minutes or until the pastry is just turning golden. Remove from the oven, brush with more beaten egg and bake for a further 10 minutes.
Allow the en croute to stand for 10 minutes before slicing (or, transfer to a board and slice at the table for extra-added theatre!) and serve with new potatoes, seasonal green vegetables and a jug of Hollandaise Sauce or vegetarian gravy.