With the outside temperature dropping to the lowest it’s been this year yet (we had a bit of snowfall this morning and it’s was so nice to wake up to it, it’s all melted by now unfortunately), the need for comfort food has increased steadily and Christmas is approaching fast too so I figured a low effort dinner centerpiece would do nicely.

With that in mind, I made a deliciously creamy and cheesy vegan mushroom pie, which continues my mushroom theme I started on Wednesday with this festive layered pâté .

This vegan mushroom pie is bursting with flavour and is really quite straightforward to make. You could make the filling well in advance – freeze it even – and then assemble and bake the pie on the day. It would make for a delightful, low effort vegan centerpiece at Christmas or Thanksgiving if making a more elaborate vegan Wellington does not appeal. Below, I walk you through all the key ingredients and the process of making this simple pie, including detailed step-by-step photos. I hope you’ll give it a crack and if you do that you’ll enjoy it!

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

MUSHROOM: You can use any fresh mushrooms you enjoy, but as I wanted this recipe to be as accessible as possible, I went for brown mushrooms known as chestnut in the UK (and cremini in the US).

HERBS: I used a combination of fresh thyme and rosemary to flavour the filling but either of them on their own works well too. You could, of course, use dried herbs too, but go easy on them – I would start with a good pinch – as they tend to be (provided they are not stale) more pungent than fresh.

BALSAMIC: balsamic vinegar works really well with mushrooms () and it cuts through the richness of the filling wonderfully. If possible, splash out (it costs about £7 / 8.5 $ in my local store) on a bottle of aged balsamic vingar as its flavour and consistency is so much better.

NUTRITIONAL YEAST: nutritional yeast is a staple vegan seasoning that adds a cheesy flavour. It is inactive yeast so don’t worry if the name freaks you out – we are not adding baker’s yeast to anything. If you don’t have it, you could use white miso paste in its place although in much smaller quantity (1 tbsp should be plenty).

TAPIOCA: tapioca, also known as tapioca starch, is a thickener and I used a small amount of it here to thicken the ‘cheese’ sauce so that it binds the filling better. Cornflour (cornstarch) or arrowroot are both commonly used replacements, but I have not tried them in this dish so I cannot guarantee that they will work just as well.

CASHEWS: I used cashews to create a really simple vegan cheese / cheese sauce to bind the mushroom filling together, add creaminess and substance to the filling. If you found a melty vegan change that you enjoy, you can use that instead (and skip the entire making of cashew cheese process – STEPS 7 & 8). If you cannot have cashews, soaked sunflower seeds will bring very similar result.

BREADCRUMBS: I used a sprinkling of breadcrumbs on the pastry to ensure that it does not get soggy from the filling. If you are gluten-free, use coarsely ground walnuts.

PUFF PASTRY: contrary to a popular belief, a lot of commerically available pastry is accidentally vegan and that includes puff pastry. It goes without saying that if the pastry is marketed as ‘butter’ or ‘all butter’, it won’t be vegan but if no such claim is made, it’s worth having a look at the ingredients list. I used a ready rolled puff pastry that comes in 23 cm / 9″ by 37 cm / 14.5″ sheets and weighs 320 g / 11 oz. My baked pie was 20 cm / 8 inches long and 14 cm / 5.5 inches wide. If you want to make this dish gluten-free, look for gluten-free (and vegan) puff pastry. It is sold in the UK by a Jus Roll brand, for example.

Sauté shallots and garlic until softened and fragrant first, then remove from the pan and sauté mushrooms until cooked – shrunk and dark brown – and all of the liquid has cooked off.

Once mushrooms are done, return shallot and garlic mixture to the pan. Season well, add balsamic and cook for a few further minutes to caramelise a little. Whisk the ‘cheese’ sauce in a separate pan for a couple of minutes, until thickened and a little strechy.

Add thickened cheese to the mushroom mixture and fold the two together with a flexible spatula, until well combined. Cool down completely before assembling the pie.

Divide your pastry sheet into two unequal parts, the smaller one will form the base of the pie and the bigger one will drape over the filling. Sprinkle the base with breadcrumbs leaving 1.5 cm / 0.5 inch all around for sealing, then heap the mushroom filling on top. Using a spatula, form it into a uniform mound, sprinkle some more breadcrumbs on top of the filling then loosely cover with the bigger piece of pastry.

Next step is to shape the pie. Using your hands gently drape the pasty over the filling without streching it at all. Use your fingertips and then tines of a fork to seal the top sheet of pastry with the base around the filling. Trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife. Brush the pastry with a vegan eggwash mixture, sprinkle with seeds of choice and using a sharp knife make 3-4 slashed in the pastry top so that the build-up of steam has a means of escaping. Refrigerate until the oven has been pre-heated, then bake until golden-brown.