Puff Pastry Wrapped Lentil Loaf
The perfect vegan main dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Makes a great centerpiece for the table and tastes insanely good! Decadent, hearty, rich, flaky, all drizzled with vegan gravy.
The perfect vegan main dish for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Makes a great centerpiece for the table and tastes insanely good! Decadent, hearty, rich, flaky, all drizzled with vegan gravy.
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 yellow onion (chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour ((gluten-free if preferred))
- 3/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 cup green or brown lentils
- 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
- 1/2 cup toasted pecans (roughly chopped)
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts (roughly chopped)
- 3 tablespoons ground flax or ground chia
- 2 stalks celery (chopped)
- 2 carrots (peeled and chopped)
- 8 oz. mushrooms (2 cups) (sliced)
- 1/2 teaspoons salt ((or more to taste))
- 2 sheets puff pastry (thawed (check to make sure they are vegan))
- 2 tablespoons non-dairy milk ((such as soy or almond))
- Carbohydrate 24.4982970833333 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 33.5573737503618 g
- Fiber 6.41953744101524 g
- Protein 7.96671833333333 g
- Saturated Fat 3.2443900833833 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (282g)
- Sodium 370.126375000007 mg
- Sugar 18.0787596423181 g
- Trans Fat 1.70511383334313 g
- Calories 407 calories
Step-by-step
- Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
- To make the lentil filling: Add the lentils to a medium pot with the vegetable broth. Cover, and bring to a simmer and cook for 35 to 40 minutes until liquid is absorbed and lentils are soft, even mushy. Take an immersion blender or potato masher and mash the lentils until about two thirds of the lentils are mush. This lentil mush makes everything hold together nicely.
- In a small bowl mix together the flax or chia with water and thicken. Flax will take about 10 minutes where as chia will thicken almost instantly.
- In a large pot, heat the olive oil in a pan over medium high heat. When hot, add the onions, celery and carrots and sauté until they soften and begin to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the mushrooms and continue to cook another 5 minutes until the mushrooms have shrunken and become juicy. Add in the garlic, salt, pepper, thyme, and cayenne and sauté about 2 minutes more. Remove from heat.
- In a large bowl, mix the lentils, toasted nuts, veggies, flax mixture, oats and flour flour together, and set aside.
- To weave the puff pastry: On a lightly floured surface roll out one of the puff pastry sheets until you get a rectangle that is about 10 inches by 14 inches. Transfer the pastry sheet to parchment paper.
- Take half of the lentil mixture and form a loaf shape down the middle of the puff pastry, leaving a bit of room at both ends. Pat the mixture into a firm log. Cut strips down each side about 1 inch wide. Cut off the top two and bottom corners and set aside. Now fold up the top flap over the end, then take the top left strip and fold over the loaf. Take the top right strip and fold that over, making an x. Do this all the way down the crisscrossing strips. Try to keep the strips close together leaving only small gaps. Once you get near the bottom, fold the bottom flap up, then finish crossing the last strips tucking the ends into anywhere they look good.weaIf you want to be all fancy, you can use the set-aside corner pieces of pastry to cut little leaf shapes, (or whatever shape you like) and tuck them into the weave.
- Repeat with the remaining pastry and lentil mixture so you have two loaves. Brush the top with non-dairy milk and move to a baking sheet.
- Bake for about 40 - 45 minutes checking every now and then until it's all golden brown and gorgeous.
- Serve hot from the oven with Quick Vegan Onion Gravy or your favourite BBQ sauce heated up.
Constructing a substantial plant-based centerpiece without relying on traditional binding agents requires careful attention to starch ratios and moisture control. Green and brown lentils serve as the structural foundation here because their sturdy seed coats retain shape while yielding to pressure. Mashing approximately two-thirds of the cooked legumes releases internal starches that act as a natural adhesive, securing the rolled oats, flour, and flax mixture into a cohesive log. Without this initial mashing phase, the interior crumbles upon slicing.
Enclosing the filling inside a laminated dough introduces a distinct thermal challenge: the interior must heat thoroughly while the exterior pastry achieves crisp lamination without burning. Baking at 400 degrees Fahrenheit accelerates the expansion of water trapped in the butter layers of the puff pastry, forcing the dough to separate into distinct flakes. Evaluating doneness relies entirely on visual cues rather than internal temperature probes. The bake is complete when the pastry achieves a deep golden brown across the entire woven surface and the base feels firm to a gentle press.
Standard grocery store puff pastry typically utilizes vegetable oils rather than dairy butter, making it suitable for plant-based diets, though reading ingredient labels remains essential. For variations in texture, incorporating coarsely chopped walnuts and pecans introduces pockets of crunch that contrast against the soft bean matrix. Unbaked assembled logs can be prepared in advance and refrigerated for up to twenty-four hours before brushing with non-dairy milk and transferring to the oven.
