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Introduction & method

Recently there's been a surge in supermarkets and fast food chains offerings of 'vegan' options. I put 'vegan' in quotes, because true hair-shirt and rope sandals vegans will complain that veganism is an entire lifestyle that goes with the diet. And that these burgers and so on are just mimicking popular meat-based dishes. But for the majority of folks who just want to eat less meat and fish but aren't keen on lettuce and lentils, this opens up a whole new range of possibilities. This recipe is my attempt to make a copy of the Greggs Vegan steak slice.

Vegetarian Steak Slice Recipe

Make The Filling

Finely dice one onion and sauté it in vegetable oil on medium-low heat for 5 minutes until soft but not browned. Add the Quorn™ mince and stir well. It won't really go brown. Add some water, the yeast extract and soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.

Make Gravy

Finely dice a second onion and sauté it in plenty of vegetable oil on medium heat for 5 minutes until soft and a little browned. Sift in as much flour as you can get to dissolve in the oil. Let it cook for 2-3 minutes - it's OK if the flour takes on a bit of a biscuit colour. Add a little water and stir in to make a thick, smoothish paste, then stir in the rest of the water. Add yeast extract, soy sauce and salt and pepper to taste. Combine this gravy with the Quorn™, and set aside to cool.

Make The Puff Pastry

Yes, it's puff pastry - a little bit fiddly but don't be scared. You can do it! In a mixing bowl, stir the salt into the flour. Cut 50g (about 2 ounces) of the fat into small cubes and rub them into the flour with your fingertips. When it looks like fine breadcrumbs, fold in some water. You don't want too much water, so just add a bit at a time and fold it in. When the dough holds together as a ball, stop adding water. You'll probably use about half a cup of water, maybe less. Sprinkle flour on your worktop and roll the dough out into a rectangle that's 3 times longer than it is wide, and 3-4mm (less than a quarter of an inch) thick. Take half of the remaining fat and grate it to form a thin layer over the bottom two-thirds of the pastry. Fold the top third over the middle third, and then the bottom third up and over the middle. Rotate 90 degrees and roll it out into a long 3 x 1 rectangle as before. Repeat the grating of the fat and folding of the rectangle. Now cover the pastry and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. It's important in making puff pastry that your fat doesn't melt. When the pastry is chilled, roll it into a 3 x 1 rectangle, fold into thirds, rotate 90 degrees and repeat the rolling and folding 3 times. Chill the pastry again, and do the rolling, folding, turning another 3 times.

Assemble and Bake the Slices

Preheat your oven to 190°C (356°F) for a fan oven, 210°C (410°F) for a conventional one, gas 7. With plenty of flour on your worktop and rolling pin, roll out the pastry into rectangles 100mm (4 inches) by 115mm (4½ inches). These slices use separate pieces of pastry for the top and the bottom, rather than folding it. You need to cut a kind of lattice in the tops. Use the square end of a steel ruler and press it through the pastry - you're creating parallel lines about 7mm apart. Each line is a row of 3 ruler cuts, and alternate rows are offset. Look, just watch the video, hey?

Place the base pieces on a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper or a silicon mat. Moisten the edges of your base pieces with water, then spoon some of the filling on it - as much as you need to fill the slice generously, but not so much that it leaks out. Place a top piece over this - pull the sides gently to expand the lattice. Press down the edges but don't crimp them. Now glaze the tops by painting them with aguafaba. 

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, turning halfway through.

The video above is from the Keef Cooks YouTube channel. Click here to see the video recipe of Vegetarian Steak Slice on YouTube.

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Ingredients & Info

•  250 grams Quorn™ Vegetarian Mince
•  1 medium onion
•  2 tbsp yeast extract (eg Marmite)
•  2 tbsp soy sauce
•  2 tbsp plain white flour
•   salt & black pepper to taste
•  250 grams plain (all-purpose) flour
•  180 grams vegan cooking fat (see below)
•  1 tsp salt
•  125 ml water
•  1 tbsp aguafaba (see below)

This recipe is almost Vegan - it fails because there's reconstituted egg in the Quorn™. The Greggs version of this uses a specially formulated kind of Quorn™ that is vegan. Cooking fat - look for something that is a replacement for lard rather than butter - in the UK Crisp n Dry™ and Trex™ are good. They are both blends of palm oil and rapeseed (canola) oil. Aguafaba - this is the water from a can of chickpeas (garbanzos).

US (cups, sticks, etc)

Makes 4 -6

Total time: .

Watch the video on YouTube