Did you know it was British Pie Week this week?
Yes, like every food stuff worth its salt in need of a bit of PR puff, the pie has been given its own week of shameless self-promotion.
Being a bit of a sucker for anything involving pastry, coupled with my own need to clear out my pantry of all the under-loved ingredients that seem to accumulate in there when I'm not looking, I've come up with this recipe for smoked tofu and leek roly-poly.
Oh alright, it's not technically a pie, but there's stuff wrapped in pastry and that's close enough right?
Feel free to leave out the morels if you've not got any lying around. Alas, I've had a bag lying around for a year, crying out to feature in some haphazard vegan recipe, so who I am to deny them?
Smoked tofu and leek roly poly
Makes one large roll - probably about eight slices
Ingredients
For the filling:
Oil
One brown onion
Two cloves of garlic
3 small leeks, cut in half lengthways then sliced into 1cm lengths
3 dried morel mushrooms, rehydrated and sliced finely
One block of Taifun smoked tofu or equivalent, cut into 1cm dice
A few sprigs of thyme
The zest of a third of a lemon
Two tablespoons of non-dairy cream
Salt and pepper
For the pastry:
8oz of self raising flour
4oz of vegan suet
Pinch of salt
A little non-dairy milk
Fry the leeks, garlic and onion in a little oil for 5 minutes or until lightly softened.
Put the leeks into a bowl, add the the rest of the ingredients, mix well and set aside.
Onto the pastry: mix together the salt, suet and self-raising flour. Then add the non-dairy milk, a teaspoon at a time, kneading with your hands as you go. You should end up with a lump of dough that comes away cleanly from the side of the bowl and isn't wet or tacky to the touch.
Flour a chopping board or work surface, and a rolling pin (a wine bottle will do if you haven't got one to hand!) and roll out the pastry until it's about 25cm by 35cm, and about 3mm thick.
Spread the leek and tofu mixture over the pastry, leaving a border of about 2cm around the edge.
Roll up the pastry fairly tightly - like you're making a swiss roll - and then place the completed roll on a greased baking sheet, with the join on the bottom. Tuck the raggedy short end under the roll, so you've got a neat rectangle in front of you.
Brush with non-dairy milk.
Put the whole thing in the oven at about 180C for 40-45 minutes, or until browned and crispy all over.
Cut into slices and serve with some tart green veggies - wilted spinach or kale would do the trick, I reckon.
Below - the uncut roly poly, Above - the roly poly with a couple of slices cut in.
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