Christmas Pithivier
This is our absolute showstopper for the Christmas table and honestly, it never fails to impress. A gorgeous golden puff pastry dome hiding a seriously delicious filling of roasted butternut squash, and it looks like you spent all day on it even though the oven does most of the hard work. The squash gets sweet and caramelised, the pastry goes beautifully flaky and crisp, and when you cut into it at the table everyone genuinely gasps. If you're looking for a centrepiece that proves plant-based Christmas dinner is anything but boring, this is the one.
Before You Start
- Preheat oven to 200°C fan
- Large baking tray lined with parchment
- Food processor
- Steaming basket
- Large saucepan with lid
- Frying pan
- All vegetable fillings cooled completely before assembly
- Pithivier chilled in fridge for at least 20 minutes (or overnight)
Ingredients
- 1 butternut squash
- 4 cloves of garlic
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- ½ red cabbage
- 4 sprigs of oregano
- 100ml water
- 1 star anise
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp light brown sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 onion
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 8 sprigs of thyme
- 200g chestnut mushrooms
- 180g cooked chestnuts
- 25g plant-based butter
- 100g stale bread
- 2 tsp porcini powder
- 100g cavolo nero
- 2 blocks of ready-made puff pastry - (not the ready rolled sheets)
- 2 tbsp unsweetened plant-based milk
- 1 tsp English mustard
Method
1
For the butternut squash
- Cut the squash in half lengthwise, and discard the seeds, and transfer to a baking tray. Pop the garlic cloves inside the hole where the seeds were. Season with the salt and drizzle both squash halves with 2 tbsp of olive oil
- Roast in the hot oven for about 50 minutes, until the flesh is soft and tender
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool
- Once cool, scoop the flesh from the skin and mash with 1 tbsp olive oil and the grated nutmeg. Taste and season then set aside to cool fully
2
For the red cabbage
- Remove the core from the cabbage and thinly slice. Pick the oregano leaves from the sprigs
- Put the cabbage in a large saucepan with 100ml water. Add the oregano, star anise, bay, red wine vinegar, sugar and salt and cover with a lid. Bring to a simmer, and cook gently for 40 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes so that it doesn’t catch. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you like. Remove from the heat and allow to cool
3
For the stuffing
- Peel and finely chop the onion
- Peel and crush the garlic
- Pick the thyme leaves from the sprigs
- Roughly chop the mushrooms and chestnuts. You can do this in a food processor, but be careful not to chop them too small
- Wipe out the bowl of the food processor. Add the bread and pulse to breadcrumbs
- Melt the butter in a frying pan over medium heat, then add the onion and cook for 5 minutes to soften. Stir through the garlic and thyme. Increase the heat to high then add the mushrooms and chestnuts. Cook for 7-10 minutes, constantly stirring, so that the mushrooms cook and the water from the mushrooms evaporates. Remove from the heat and stir through the breadcrumbs, porcini powder and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Remove from the heat and allow to cool
4
For the cavolo nero
- Rip the cavolo nero leaves from stalk, and tear into even size pieces
- Bring a pot of salted water to the boil. Using a steaming basket, place the cavolo inside the pot and steam until wilted, about 4 minutes. Remove from the heat and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking process
5
Time to build
- Preheat the oven to 200*C fan setting
- Before you begin to build, it is important that each vegetable layer is fully cooled
- Roll one pastry block on a lightly floured surface into a 30cm round and transfer to a lined baking tray. Spread the butternut squash over the base, leaving a 2cm margin all the way around. Next, pile on the stuffing, followed by the cabbage and the cavolo nero
- Roll out the other block of pastry to a 35cm diameter. Drape the lid on top of the pie filling. Using your fingers, seal it round the edges
- In a small bowl, whisk together the milk and mustard and brush it all over the pastry. The mustard will let the pastry go a nice golden colour
- Chill in the fridge for at least 20 minutes or overnight. Bake in the hot oven for 30-35 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and crisp
Tips & Variations
- Get ahead with the filling: We always make the squash filling the day before. It keeps brilliantly in the fridge overnight and means you're not rushing around on Christmas Day trying to cool things down.
- Score the pastry top: Don't skip scoring a pattern on the pastry lid before it goes in the oven. It looks stunning and it's honestly so easy to do with the tip of a knife. A simple spiral or leaf pattern makes it look incredibly professional.
- Rest it before slicing: Give the pithivier at least 5 minutes out of the oven before you cut into it. We know it's tempting to go straight in, but it helps everything hold together so you get those beautiful clean slices.
Why This Works
The trick here is roasting the butternut squash low and slow with the garlic still in the skin, because it basically steams itself into this incredible sweet, mellow mash that holds everything together perfectly. What really makes this sing is getting the filling completely cool before it goes into the pastry, because warm filling is the enemy of crispy pastry and we learned that the hard way. Trust us on this one, patience at that stage pays off massively.