Vegetable Chilli Roast with Mushroom & Tarragon Gravy

by Dan May from The Red Hot Chilli Cookbook – Fabulously fiery recipes for chilli fans (Ryland Peters & Small)

Photography: Peter Cassidy

If you are ever at a loose end in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and you have grown tired of the endless stag and hen groups that seem to wander the streets every weekend, then I can’t recommend highly enough a brisk walk over to Ouseburn and Stepney Bank.  It is a great creative and artistic centre for the city and has one of the best music pubs you will ever visit; The Cluny!  I had a fantastic vegetarian roast there which changed my opinion of this much maligned dish.  This is our own version, ideal for a ‘chilli’ Sunday lunch.

Serves 4

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil

Knob of butter

1 red onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1-2 Jalapẽno chillies, deseeded and finely diced (or Cherry Bomb or any other supermarket red chillies)

½ red sweet/bell pepper, deseeded and diced

1 small courgette/zucchini finely chopped

6 small mushrooms, chopped

125g/1 cup mixed shelled nuts, chopped

130g/1⅓ cups fresh breadcrumbs

100g/3½ oz feta cheese, crumbled

100g/3½ oz cheddar, grated

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Mushroom & Tarragon Gravy

Knob of butter

1 small red onion, finely chopped

6 small mushrooms, finely chopped

1 tsp dried tarragon

125ml/½ cup good red wine

1 tsp tomato purée/paste

150ml/⅔ cup boiling water

1 tsp vegetable bouillon powder

Very small handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Baking dish, about 1.5L/6 cup capacity

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6.

Heat the oil and most of the butter in a frying pan over medium heat and gently fry the onion for 1-2 mins, then add the garlic.  Fry until the onion starts to soften.  Add the chillies, sweet/bell pepper, courgette/zucchini and mushrooms and cook for 5 mins, stirring regularly.  Remove from the heat.  In a large bowl, combine the cooked mixture with the nuts, breadcrumbs and the cheeses.  Mix really well.

Lightly grease the baking dish with the rest of the butter.  Spoon the mixture into the dish and press firmly down to ensure the roast is tightly packed into the dish with no large air pockets.  Cover the top of the mixture with baking parchment.  Roast in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes and remove the paper for the last 5 minutes to brown the surface.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and let rest for a few minutes before serving; this will allow it to firm up if it is a little soft when it is first removed from the oven.

Meanwhile, to make the mushroom & tarragon gravy, melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onion for 2 minutes.  Add the mushrooms and fry gently until soft.  Season with a little salt and add the tarragon.  Turn up the heat & add the wine.  Bubble to reduce by about half; this will evaporate the alcohol leaving the intensified wine flavour.

Add the tomato purée/paste, boiling water and vegetable bouillon powder, mix and simmer over reduced heat for about 5 minutes, then add more boiling water if required.  Pour the gravy into a small bowl and blend with a hand blender until smooth. Return to the pan, reheat and season to taste.  Add more boiling water if required, throw in the parsley and mix through.  Keep warm until required.  Serve with roast or mashed potato, roast parsnips, peas & broccoli.

Drinks tasted on air, alongside the dish:

https://www.fermentfizz.com/ferment-fizz-lemonades. https://www.amathusdrinks.com/lumiere-prestige-class-orange