Stuffed Tofurkey and Nutroast for Christmas day

Christmas dinner is always a challenge.  Especially for those who don't follow a mainstream diet.  This year Sylvia spent her Christmas lunch with her dad and decided she would make a roast dinner.  But she wanted something instead of a nut roast.  After some discussion we decided upon a tofurkey.  I had only made one once many years ago at a masterclass so had to look up some recipes to work out how to do it.  I want to record it here in case I ever attempt a tofurkey again.  And it is a great reason to write up a blog post on Christmas day

This is our breakfast on Christmas morning.  I made overnight sourdough cranberry nut rolls and served them with Swiss cheese and bottled orange juice.  It was nice to take out some Christmas crockery and sit down to a meal together.

 

The tofurkey was made the day before.  It is not a recipe to make on the day of the meal as there is mixing, fridge time, digging, stuffing, baking, basting.  It was lots of steps but not too unfamiliar.  

Sylvia decided she wanted a pudding shape so we went with moulding it using a bowl.  When we made tofurky at the master class years ago, we shaped it into an oval and made some drumstick shaped legs to attach.  It amused me to shape it like a turkey.  We were shown a way to wrap the tofurky around the stuffing which you can see in the photos on that masterclass post.

What stumped me was the stuffing.  All tofurkey recipes I looked at had stuffing.  Most of the stuffing recipes were chunks of bread and vegetables.  I assume these were American recipes as this is their way of doing stuffing.  I still find it odd.  

When I ate meat many years ago the stuffing we would have was like herbs, sausage and breadcrumbs.  I loved it.  In fact I suspect that one of the main reasons I love my regular Christmas nut roast is that it reminds me a bit of stuffing.  I was making this nut roast anyway so I decided to put some of it in the tofurkey as stuffing.  And to repay the favour I stuffed some tofurkey into the nut roast too.

I gave Sylvia some help by making sure the tofurkey was baked and the potatoes lightly roasted and ready in the oven before I left.  I wrote instructions on cooking the tofurkey and potatoes together for the first 20 minutes and then keeping the potatoes in the oven til crispy.  And I wrote a reminder to cook the brussel sprouts, with the alternative of cooking peas from the freezer, which Sylvia chose.  Did you spot that the brussel sprouts on the top photo are actually Marks and Spencer chocolates with brussel sprouts wrappers (that come with a label claiming "definitely not sprout flavoured")?

I had a slice of tofurkey with some roast vegies when I got home in the evening.  It was quite nice.  The tofu didn't have heaps of flavour and took it from the glaze which had lots of intense soy flavour.  It was a bit crumbly.  I liked it but after a big Christmas dinner, it was not the best time to taste it.  Also I think I would have served it with gravy but Sylvia did not want any as part of the meal.  The tofurkey is vegan and gluten free but the nutroast stuffing is not.

 

Sylvia and her dad also had some golden Gingerbread and butterscotch sponge pudding with vanilla ice cream and butterscotch sauce.  Her dad brought the pudding but the ice cream was leftover from our raspberry spiders on Christmas eve in front of Carols by Candlelight.  They much preferred the spiced sponge pudding to traditional Christmas pudding with dried fruit.

 

Sylvia will make a great entertainer some day.  As well as roast dinner and pudding, she put together this impressive cheeseboard.  One of the kind people I work with gave me the leftover cheddar and red Leicester cheese from the Christmas drinks.  They were so good.

Meanwhile I was down in Geelong with my parents and siblings' families for presents and lunch.  The gingerbread biscuits are ones that Sylvia had baked and decorated.  We also had a fine platter made by my sister Fran.  Fran also brought the non-alcoholic Mojito syrup so we could add soda water for a refreshing drink.  My brother's girlfriend made Pimms cocktails for those who were after a drink, including a couple of nieces who have recently turned 18.

As I do each year, I took down a favourite nut roast to my parents Christmas dinner.  I usually keep it quite simple but this year as I had the tofurkey I stuffed it.  Above are photos of showing how I prepared the tin and added the stuffing.

You can see in the above photo the the tomatoes and rosemary springs have moved around but they give it a bit of a festive look.  My mum juggles lots of dishes in the oven on Christmas Day.  This year she had 16 people for Christmas dinner (it would have been 17 if not for Covid).  So my nut roast went into her air fryer to heat.  It fitted in best in the silicon tin but I would have preferred to heat it on the serving tray and get some of the bottom browned a little, but space was tight.

I made sure that it had time to rest for a bit between the air fryer and slicing it.  I was please that it sliced thinly but also that the round of stuffing could be seen inside the slices.  The tofurkey was a little crumbly and this made the slices a little less stable than usual.

Here is the spread of dishes that my mum served for Christmas lunch: nut roast, roast potatoes, green peas, roast pumpkin, roast carrots, gf cauliflower cheese.  I had cranberry sauce on my nut roast.  Everyone else had pork, ham and gravy.  Some also had some nut roast - it has a few fans.  It is always a bit chaotic when everyone is serving themselves and we have some robust discussions about which way people should move around the food but once we settle at the table and pull the crackers it is more relaxed.

For dessert we had a selection of chocolate cake, cheesecake, pavlova, mini chocolate ripple cakes and of course plum pudding and custard.  I had a small bowl with a few bits and pieces. All really good!

And now here are some of my wonderful presents.  For me there was a cake turntable and cake scrapers to make it easier to frost a cake.  A beautiful Robert Gordon white serving bowl.  Cute Christmas socks and aromatic Christmas pudding soap.  A book by the very witty Richard Ayoade.  And lovely hand soap and chocolate.

Sylvia also was given lots of lovely presents.  Body washes, a body mist, lip gloss and hand moisturiser.  Books of Rupi Kaur's poetry.  A hairy coo hot water bottle.  Instant ramen.  A coffee pot spoon.  A kitty that coughs up hairballs.  A necklace, crystals and a keyring.  A Taylor Swift Folklore cabin snowglobe.  And money!

Then there was this Grinch lantern snow globe for Sylvia.  We have watched the Grinch a lot and so this Cuddly as a Cactus snow globe seemed perfect for her.

It was a very nice Christmas day with lots of driving.  After lunch, I went to Torquay for a beach swim with my brother and his girlfriend before heading home to Melbourne to the tofurkey.

More vegetarian Christmas dinner ideas from Green Gourmet Giraffe blog:

Stuffed nut roast roulade
Festive layered nut roast with tomato and herbs
Vegetarian Hog’s Head
Nut roast with mac and cheese layer

Brussels sprouts with Cointreau (gf, v)
Whole cauliflower cheese
Port gravy (gf, v)
Potato parsley stars (gf, v)
Roast potato and pumpkin (gf, v)
Spinach salad with spiced nuts and cranberries (gf, v) 

More Christmas recipes

Tofurkey
Adapted from Full of Plants
Serves 8-12

Tofu mixture:
1kg extra-firm tofu, mashed

3 tbsp white miso

2 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp chopped parsley leaves

1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves

Nut roast filling:

1/4 of the nut roast mixture (see below)

 

Glaze:

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp pure maple syrup

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

pepper

 

(To mash the tofu, I blitzed it in the food processor in a few batches.)

 

Mix all tofu mixture ingredients.  Line a small mixing bowl with clingfilm.  Press it all into a small mixing bowl.  Place saucer on it and then pile some heavy stuff on it and chill in fridge for a few hours.  

 

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Remove from fridge and spoon out the middle, keeping about 2 cm tofu mixture around the edge of the bowl.  Place the discarded tofu mixture into a bowl.  Add stuffing into the cavity, press it down and fill the last few cm with some of the set aside tofu mixture.

 

I had the nutroast to stuff so some of the stuffing went into it.  If you don't have somewhere else to stuff it, you can add any leftover tofu mixture to a stirfry or a tomato based stew or a tart filling.  It is a chameleon of a mixture that adds texture and protein to many dishes.  Leftovers can also be used in these ways.

 

Mix the glaze ingredients in a small bowl.  Line an oven tray with baking paper.  Turn out the stuffed tofurkey onto the baking paper and discard the clingfilm.  Grab a pastry brush and baste (brush the glaze all over it).  Bake 15 minutes, baste, bake another 15 minutes, baste and bake a final 15 minutes.  Set aside until close to eating.  If you are making this for Christmas Day or an entertaining event, it is best to make the day before.  About 45 minutes before serving, heat at 180 C for 20-30 minutes and let rest before serving.

 

Cheese and Walnut Nutroast
From Sarah Brown via Green Gourmet Giraffe
Serves 8 or a crowd

Nut roast:

500g cottage cheese
100g walnuts, ground
4 tsp wholegrain mustard
2 cup (250g or 8 oz) dry breadcrumbs
4 eggs, beaten

Lots of freshly ground black papper

A grind of salt 

 

Optional tofurkey stuffing 1:

1 cup tofurkey / tofu mixture (above recipe)

1/2 cup roasted cashews ground

1/4 tsp each of garlic, soy and maple

 

Optional tofurkey stuffing 2: 

250g tofu

2 tsp white miso

1.5 tsp cornflour (cornstarch)

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1 tsp nutritional yeast

1 tbsp chopped herbs, such as parsley, thyme and sage

1/2 cup roasted cashews ground

1/4 tsp garlic paste

1/4 tsp soy sauce

1/4 tsp maple syrup

 

Optional decorations:

cherry tomatoes

fresh herbs, such as rosemary sprigs

Preheat oven to 180 C.  Prepare a 13 x 22cm loaf tin and line bottom with paper.  Grease the sides except if using a silicone pan.  [Optional decorations: If you want your loaf to look fancy, arrange halves of cherry tomatoes (cut side down) and sprigs of rosemary. or whatever fresh herbs you have on hand.]

Combine all nut roast ingredients in a large mixing bowl. [Optional stuffing (1 or 2): Mix all ingredients in a medium mixing bowl.  Check seasoning and adjust to taste.]

Spoon into prepared loaf tin.  [If you have arranged the optional decorations on the base, just try not to move them too much as you drop spoonfuls on top.  If you have made the optional stuffing, just add about a third of the nut roast mixture. Mould the tofurkey filling into a log lengthways along the middle of the nut roast and then gently spoon the rest of the nut roast around it and cover it on top.] Smooth the top down with the back of a spoon. Bake in moderate oven for approximately 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

If you are making this for Christmas or entertaining and want to slice it nicely, it needs to sit for a while before slicing.  Ideally it should sit overnight and then warmed up in the silicone baking tin (not so good to leave in the tin overnight in a metal tin) or on a tray covered with foil.  The next day heat it up but make sure it sits before cutting.  If you try to slice it when it is really hot and soft it will not slice cleanly.

On the Stereo:
Christmas tree farm: Taylor Swift