Anne Diamond's Christmas Strudel
Christmas Strudel by Sophie
This recipe was invented for Anne Diamond on her 2010 pre-Christmas Weekend Warm-Up on BBC Radio Berkshire. She loved it, so I said I'd post the recipe here. I wouldn't have invented it without the impetus of cooking up something for her show, so it's only fair it's named after her.
If you want to make caramelised onions for this rather than just fried onions, it's easy though it takes time. You can make them up to three weeks in advance if you refrigerate them. I used a recipe from an Australian site but changed the sugar for agave syrup as that's more healthy with its low glycemic index, and kind to diabetics or anyone with a sugar-related problem such as spots.
Can't find what your looking for? Search all of the ActiVeg Network recipes.
Ingredients
- 1 pack filo pastry, defrosted if necessary
- 2 onions chopped finely and fried in olive oil, or caremelised
- 1/2 apples, sliced thinly
- 8 mushrooms, sliced
- 2 handfuls of cashew nuts
- 1 clove garlic, chopped or crushed
- 2 tsp dried thyme or oregano or herbs de Provence
- 1 fresh red chilli, de-seeded and chopped finely
- 5 sprigs of sprouting broccoli or some French beans or frozen peas
- 1 small tub of houmus
- half a pack of Cheezly dairy-free cheese, sliced (optional, available in health food shops)
- olive oil
Method
- Fry up the onions in a little olive oil until soft and browned. If you want a richer taste, make some caramelised onions (see link above), for a very special flavour, which you can do in advance.
- Gently heat the mushrooms in a small pan in olive oil, with the garlic, herbs and cashew nuts, and your green vegetable for about 5 minutes. Take off the heat.
- Preheat the oven to 200C, gas mark 6.
- Spread plenty of oil on one baking tray, and lightly flour and oil another.
- Gently drag your filo pastry sheets one at a time across your oily baking tray to oil them, and layer them on the other baking tray. For small strudels you can double up each layer to make 2 layers.
- When you have at least 6 layers of pastry built up, layer your contents in a row down the middle. First the apple slices, followed by the onions on top, then the mushroom and cashew mix, chilli, optional Cheezly slices, and paste over with a generous amount of humous.
- Roll up the filo as tightly as you can, rolling the strudel over on itself as you do, with the line of ingredients as the axis. Seal the edges with more olive oil. You can now slice it without separating the slices if you want neat slices when it's cooked.
- Bake in the pre-heated oven for 12-15 minutes until the strudel is going golden in places.
- Serve warm.
Notes
Perfect with roast potatoes (delicious in olive oil) and sprouts, or any other vegetables and salad you care for.
About
- Difficulty: Experienced
- Preparation: Bake
- Provides: 4 servings
- Yields: 2 small or one large strudel
- Vegginess:: Vegan
Type
Timings
- Preparation: 30 minutes
- Cooking: 15 minutes
- Total: 45 minutes
Allergy details
Author
This recipe was reproduced with the kind permission of .
This recipe is copyrighted by the above.
% 
sophie on 20th Dec 2010 09:32
Don't worry Marilyn, there are many varieties of shop bought pastry that happen to be vegan. Every brand of filo pastry I have ever used has been as it's made with olive oil or vegetable oil. If you want puff or shortcrust pastry instead, JusRol standard pastry is vegan, only the clearly marked butter varieties are not. It's also easy to make your own pastry with vegan marg, flour and water.
Report this comment.
Marilyn, Herts on 17th Dec 2010 19:43
This sounds nice but surely it cant be called vegan if you use packet pastry as it will have butter in it ! ?
Report this comment.