Vegan Holiday Celebration Roulade

Want to have a tasty show stopper for your plant-based main dish at your next Holiday gathering?! Look no further than this tasty vegan holiday roulade.

This recipe takes a bit of time and effort, but the results are well worth it! Stuffed with tasty filling and wrapped in puff pastry, this holiday roast is a real crowd pleaser for vegetarians and omnivores alike.

(Note: What's a roulade you ask? It's French for "roll", indicative of the rolled spiral shape. They can be sweet or savory, and often wrapped in pastry. Basically, it's a fancy, rolled roast. But you can impress your guests by listing a roulade on your menu. Fancy, smancy.)

Vegan Holiday Celebration Roulade

Ingredients:

Filling/wet roast ingredients:

1 onion (chopped)

2 cloves garlic (finely chopped)

2 Cups veggie broth

Your choice of filling ingredients. I used cubed butternut squash, hazelnuts, cranberries and fresh sage and rosemary. But you can adapt this with your choice of fillings. (i.e. Walnuts, sweet potato, a variety of herbs, whatever strikes your fancy. A nice balance of sweet and savory is key)

Dry Roast Ingredients:

2 1/4 Cup Vital Wheat Gluten ( I used this one link)

3 Tablespoons chickpea flour (if you don't have chickpea flour you can grind dry chickpeas in a high speed blender)

Broth Ingredients:

2 Cups veggie stock

1 Cup cider (for alcohol free you can sub and additional cup of veggie broth)

2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Mix dry roast ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Saute onions, garlic, herbs and your choice of filling ingredients in a skillet until tender and onions have slightly caramelized. Add veggie stock to dry ingredients and stir until combined into a loose dough. Add 1/2 of the filling ingredients to the dough and stir to combine until incorporated into the dough. Turn dough onto a slightly floured surface and knead a few times until dough is stretchy and pliant. Roll the dough into a rough rectangle about 1.5 inches thick. Spread the remaining filling in a layer on top of dough. Gently roll the dough lengthwise to form your roll (roulade). Placing the rolled dough seam at the bottom, wrap your roll in cheesecloth and tie both ends. (can use kitchen twine or twist ties to secure ends) Place roll on deep baking dish, pour remaining broth mixture over the top, and bake in preheated oven at 350 F degrees for 2 hours. Spoon or baste broth over the top of roll periodically throughout baking.

When roast is fully cooked, remove from oven and let cool. Baking the roulade can be done a day or two in advance and kept in the fridge. On the day of, thaw one sheet of puff pastry (I use Pepperidge Farms puff pastry). Roll out the rectangle of pastry dough slightly on a lightly floured surface. Place cooked roast in the center of the dough lengthwise. Using a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough on either side of roast into 1 inch strips. Gently fold pastry dough over roast in diagonal pattern, alternating sides until roast is covered. Pinch off extra dough at the end if needed. Brush top of pastry with melted butter (optional) and bake for about 20 mins at 350F degrees until just golden brown.