I have made a Wellington before using a vegan sausage, which worked out well, but I wanted to do something different this year.
Of course, I am Irish, and when I saw Derek Sarno cooking a mash Wellington, I thought, "that's the thing!" It does need an Irish twist though, hence Champ!
Champ is traditionally potato with a green leaf, like cabbage or kale, but by using leek we are adding that mild onion flavour. Also Champ will be made with cream or milk in the potato mix, but we are keeping the potato as dry as possible to avoid soaking into the pastry.
In Derek's video, he mentions that freshly baked this Wellington will just ooze out - which is fine for "family style" serving. He allows his to cool fully before slicing, which gets a better textured slice. To help a little with that, I am bringing in an idea from another Irish classic - potato farls - and add flour into the mix, which gives a bit more structure when hot. For GF, replace with gram / chickpea flour.
Ingredients
1 large leek
1 or 2 tsp salt
50g plain flour
Duxelles
1 medium onion, chopped finely
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp mixed herbs
Dash or two of olive oil
Wellington
Several green leaves (I used spinach)
Fresh herbs such as sage or thyme
Wash of olive oil mixed with some agave
Method
Cut the potatoes into evenly sized chunks. Add to a pot with enough water to just cover them and put on the heat. Bring to boil and cook until fork tender.
Meanwhile, cut off the dark green tops of the leek (retain for soup or stock!). Cut the rest of the leek down the length, and then slice across into half rounds. Put them in a bowl of water and gently wash to remove any grit (it should fall to the bottom) then remove the leek, shake off excess water, and pat dry with some paper towel.
Add the leek to a pot with a couple of good glugs - 2-3 tablespoons - of olive oil. This oil is going to end up in the potato, and we don't want too much. Bring the pot up to medium high heat until the leek is sizzling away, then reduce the heat to medium to allow it to cook in the oil while the potatoes are finishing.
Drain off the remaining water into a jug - but retain it for now. Leave the pot of potatoes with the lid off to cool and steam off more of the water. We need to keep this as dry as we can initially.
After 5 minutes or so, sprinkle on 1 teaspoon of salt and mash the potato with a hand masher. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed. Sprinkle on the 50g of flour and mash it well in with the potato. It should start to form a dough.
Pour in the leek and oil and stir it well into the dough. We are aiming for a fairly dry dough here, but if it looks like it needs some liquid, then add some of the reserved starchy water that the potatoes were boiled in.
I know that one leek stirred into one kilo of potatoes may not look a lot, but it packs a lot of flavour and we don't want it to overpower the dish.
Set the potato dough aside to cool.
For the Duxelles, chop the onion and mushroom finely and add to a dry non-stick pan over a medium-high heat. Add salt and some dried herbs. Stir occasionally and you will see the liquid being given up by the mushroom that we want to evaporate off.
Once it looks like most of the liquid is gone, add a small amount of oil - only about a teaspoon, and continue to stir fry for a couple of minutes. Then set aside to cool.
Wash your green leaves and pat dry with paper towels.
When everything has cooled, get your chilled pastry ready (defrost in advance!) Roll it out flat and lay the green leaves down, leaving a good 1 cm or so margin of pastry around the edges.
Onto the leaves, add the Duxelles and some fresh herbs. On top of that, add the potato. You will probably have some potato left over (which you can form into cakes and fry!) so don't try to pack it all in. If you pack it too full, it will probably split - though that isn't a huge problem for a family dinner.
Close the pastry up, lengthwise, and pinch along the seam to seal it closed. Fold up the ends and pinch to seal. Use a fork to prick holes along the top to allow steam out.
You could pause here and put the Wellington into the fridge, covered with parchment, and cook the next day. If so, take it out and allow to come up close to room temperature before cooking.
Preheat the oven to 180C. Apply the oil and agave wash all over the pastry. Roast for about 40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.
Allow to rest for about 10 minutes before slicing. Serve in thick slices with greens and plenty of gravy.
Chill leftovers and the next day slice and fry and serve with gravy / mayonnaise / sriracha / whatever you want!
One option is to fry the sides and bottom in a little oil in a medium-hot pan, then sprinkle some of you favourite melty cheese on the top and put it under the grill / broiler!
Another options is this delicious vegan St. Stephen's Day pie!