Giant Festive Non-Sausage Wreath with a Cranberry & Port Sauce (v)

This vegetarian sausage roll alternative has been a family favourite on our Christmas table for many years. We’ve been eating ‘Sosmix’ since the 1980’s when it was very difficult being a vegetarian. This versatile food is purchasable online or available in health food shops or international food stores. We order our supply from an international food store in Liverpool, Mattas.

Each year I add more ingredients to the original recipe creating a more luxurious festive roll, full of all those Christmassy seasonal ingredients and flavours. This year I’ve chosen to shape the giant sausage roll into a festive wreath with a homemade cranberry & port sauce.

This recipe is very easy to make and I’ve suggested a few substitute ingredients that can be used if you struggle to get hold of the original ‘sosmix’.

I hope you’ll agree, as do our neighbours in France, who often request this recipe at social gatherings, that this is a superb alternative to sausage meat and the beloved sausage roll. It’s delicious served either hot or cold.

---

Serves: 12 substantial portions | Cooking time: 35-40 mins | Prep time: 45 mins

Ingredients

Cranberry & Port Sauce

• 300g fresh cranberries

• 175g caster sugar

• 75 ml water

• 35 ml port

• Zest of one clementine

Wreath

• 350g Sosmix* (dried vegetarian sausage meat) or pack of vegetarian sausages

• 2 heaped tbsps of fresh thyme leaves

• 2 heaped tbsps of fresh sage leaves, finely chopped

• 350ml cold water

• 1 medium leek, washed and finely chopped

• 2 medium banana shallot, finely chopped

• 180g vacuum packed cooked chestnuts, chopped

• 75g dried cranberries

• 2 tbsps fresh homemade cranberry and port sauce or shop bought

• 75g pine nuts

• 1 lemon, zest

• 1 clementine zest and juice

• 2 tbsps olive oil

• 1 tsp fennel seeds

• 1 tsp salt

• Good grind of black pepper

• 1 tsp yeast extract, diluted with a little hot water

• X2 320g of ready rolled puff pastry

• 160g fresh brie cheese, sliced (omit if catering for a vegan diet)

• 1 egg beaten for glaze or plant based milk

• Flour for dusting

• Handful of white and black sesame seeds

*If you can’t obtain Sosmix from a health food shop or online, you can use a substitute dried vegetarian sausage mix like Granovita’s Lincolnshire ’sausage’ mix, or uncooked meat-free sausages. I find Richmonds (meat free ) are ideal for this recipe, or Macsween’s vegetarian haggis is also a good substitute.

NB, this recipe can be altered to create a vegan version by omitting the Brie cheese and egg glaze.

---

Method

Start by making the cranberry sauce. You can do this ahead of time and store it in a Kilner jar in the fridge. It’ll last for months.

Pop the fresh cranberries, sugar, port, water and clementine zest in a pan on a low heat. Let it come to a bubble, stir occasionally and turn down the heat. Let the sauce reduce until the cranberries have popped and the sauce has thickened. This should take around ten minutes. The sauce may appear runny at this stage, but it’ll thicken once chilled. Leave to cool slightly and pour into a sterilised Kilner jar. Once cold, pop in the fridge to store. If making on the day it’ll keep in a covered bowl in the fridge for a few days.

Next, make the non-sausage filling. In a large bowl add your Sosmix, (or alternative), water and combine to form a sausage meat-like consistency. Add a little more water if it’s too dry. Leave the mixture to stand whilst you sauté the leeks and shallots in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once the leeks and shallots have softened, add the chopped sage, thyme leaves and fennel seeds to the leeks and cook for a few minutes more .Season with salt & pepper and leave to cool slightly.

Returning to the Sosmix mixture, add the chopped chestnuts, dried cranberries, yeast extract diluted in a little hot water, 1 tablespoon of cranberry sauce, pine nuts, lemon zest and the clementine zest, plus the juice.

Then add the cooled leek and shallot mixture, season with salt & pepper and combine, using your hands until all the mixture is mixed together evenly.

On a lightly floured surface roll out one sheet of puff pastry to make a slightly bigger rectangular shape.

With the second sheet of pastry, cut a third slice of it and pop to one side to use for your wreath decoration.

With the second pastry piece, attach it to the bigger first pastry sheet by overlapping it slightly and roll it out to match the same size as the first rectangular piece, creating one larger rectangular sheet of pastry. This will allow you enough pastry for shaping into a circular wreath.

Brush the remaining tablespoon of the cranberry sauce along the centre of the pastry sheet. Lay thin slices of Brie on top of the sauce down the full length of the sheet.

Now, lay your Sosmix filling on top of the Brie, creating a raised sausage like shape using all of the filling.

Leave at least a 1/2 inch gap all around the edge of the pastry sheet.

Brush around the edge with either the plant based milk glaze or egg.

Fold the pastry over the filling from both ends and tucking in the sides to create a giant sausage roll shape.

Flour the work surface again and tip the roll over with the seam side facing downwards.Dust with a little more flour to prevent it sticking to the surface.

If cooking straight away, heat the oven to 180C Fan / Gas Mark 4. Line a flat baking tray with parchment paper ready to transfer the wreath to.

Take both ends of the festive roll and twist slightly until you form a wreath shape and both ends are touching.

Using the glaze, glue both ends together. You may need to pinch the dough with finger and thumb to create a seam so it stays together. This can be covered up with your pastry decoration, so don’t worry at this stage if it looks messy.

Once you have the wreath shape, take a sharp knife and cut an inch in from the top down through the roll, approximately three inches apart creating 12 equal slices. You want to keep the outer edge attached, so don’t cut right through the wreath.

Separate the slices out making a gap between them, like a fan. This will form your Christmas wreath shape and expose the filling.

Using your third spare pastry sheet, roll it out on a floured work surface. Cut out enough star, holly leaf and berries shapes to cover the top of the wreath to decorate. You can cover any little tears you may have made whilst shaping the roll.

The holly and berry leaves can be placed at the top of your wreath for presentation purposes. Brush with the remaining glaze and scatter with the white & black sesame seeds.

Slide the wreath carefully on to your lined baking tray. (Fridge until ready to cook).

Cook in a hot oven for 30/40 minutes until a golden colour and puffed up.

Serve on a big platter with a bowl of your homemade cranberry sauce in the centre. This festive wreath will be the star of the show on the big day, complete with all of the usual trimmings.

Enjoy!