Air Fryer Carrot & Mushroom Plait

Hi, veggies. Is your roast dinner a disappointment? Turn it into the Sunday lunch that you deserve with this rich and savoury mushroom plait.

Cook a vegetarian roast in your air fryer

If you’ve ever stared at a sad-looking vegetarian sausage for Christmas dinner or, worse, said “don’t worry, I’ll just eat the vegetables” after someone forgot about you…  try making this air fryer vegetarian roast, a worthy centrepiece for your weekend.

It’s also a definite finalist for the Christmas Dinner shortlist. Vegetarian roasts tend to be dry and slipper-like or damp and mushy. This roast is neither!  Our epic meat-free roast is loosely based on a Moosewood recipe – it may be vintage, but it’s aged magnificently.

Make and freeze

This recipe is ideal for freezing, so the amounts given below are enough for one pack of ready-rolled puff pastry. It makes one long plait or 3 air fryer-sized portions, so you can cook the one(s) you need and freeze the rest. Then you have one or two waiting for you in the freezer, ready for the after-work slump. It just makes good kitchen sense.

Air Fryer Mushroom Plait

Serves 2-3

1 onion, finely chopped
2-3 carrots, grated (about 1 heaping cup)
300g mushrooms, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp Marigold (vegan stock) powder
Black pepper
1 cup breadcrumbs (fresh)
½ cup grated cheddar
1 egg
1 box ready-rolled puff pastry

1 – Put the chopped onions, garlic and mushrooms into a pan with a splash of olive oil and cook gently until softened.  

2 – Add the grated carrots and continue cooking for a couple more minutes.

3 – Add the stock powder and ground pepper to the pan and mix well. Add the breadcrumbs and cheese and stir to combine. Cool in the pan.  

4 – When the filling is cool, beat the egg in a cup and add most of it to the filling (saving about a quarter to brush over the top of the pastry).  

5 – Unroll the puff pastry and put the filling in a wide, fat sausage along the middle (lengthwise). Brush both long sides with a little egg and make diagonal slashes up to the edge of the filling. Now plait them!  Fold alternate strips inwards to plait over the top of the filling.

6 – Cut the long plait into three pieces measuring about 8cm each.

7 – Put the crisper rack into the Clear Mini glass drawer and place a rectangle of baking paper on it. Put one plait on the paper and brush the top with egg.

8 – Bake for 14-18 minutes at 190°C and remove when the pastry is golden.

SERVING

Leave to rest for 5-15 minutes before serving. We loved this with air fryer roast potatoes!

You can freeze the unbaked plaits, tightly wrapped: defrost before baking as above.

WE 💗 VEGGIE INSPO

Where’s all our veggies at?!  Hop over to our socials and share your favourite suppers with us. We can’t wait to see what you’re loving this month – come and check out everyone else’s dinner @KelenandWillian.