Orange and cranberry roast wreath recipe
This delicious plant-based roast is the ultimate vegan centrepiece, perfect for the festive period – or just for a show-stopping Sunday lunch.
Rich with walnuts, zippy citrus fruit and zingy cranberries, it’s a fabulous, seasonally inspired main everyone will love, vegan or not.
The recipe features in food and lifestyle blogger Romy London’s latest cookbook, The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Roasts, which contains 60 plant-based roasts that are creative, luxurious and utterly delicious.
Romy suggests serving the cranberry sauce-glazed wreath – which should definitely be brought to the table whole for maximum impact – with green beans and an indulgent brandy peppercorn sauce.
“With the addition of orange, this roast is extra zesty and brings the deliciously sweet taste of cranberries to the next level,” she explains. “The stunning wreath shape will look beautiful on your festive dinner table, too.”
Things to note:
To make the wreath you will need a 27cm (10½in) ring cake tin (pan).
For US ingredients and measurements, use the drop-down menu and select 'Cups'.
Ingredients
- 28 g vegan butter
- 160 g red onions, finely diced
- 10 g garlic, crushed
- 100 g celery, finely diced
- 130 g carrots, finely diced
- 130 g cranberries
- 1 tsp orange, zest only
- 60 ml fresh orange juice
- 0.5 tsp sea salt
- 14 g light brown sugar
- 1 tsp fresh thyme
- 1 cube vegetable stock
- 0.2 tsp ground black pepper
- 230 g walnuts, chopped
- 2 tbsp peanut butter
- 15 ml apple cider vinegar
- 12 g almond flour
- 20 g flaxseeds
- 60 g cranberry sauce
- 1 handful orange zest and chopped nuts, to decorate the wreath (optional)
Details
- Cuisine: British
- Recipe Type: Dinner
- Difficulty: Medium
- Preparation Time: 30 mins
- Cooking Time: 60 mins
- Serves: 6
- Suitable For: Vegan
Step-by-step
- Melt the vegan butter in a large, non-stick frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for 3-4 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic, cook for 1 minute, then add the celery and carrots. Stir and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the carrots have slightly softened.
- Stir in the cranberries and cook the mixture for 5 minutes, or until the cranberries have softened. Reduce the heat to low. Add the orange zest, fresh orange juice, salt and brown sugar.
- After 2 minutes, add the fresh thyme. Crumble in the stock (bouillon) cube and add the black pepper. Continue to simmer over a low heat while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- Transfer the walnuts to a food processor and pulse for 10-20 seconds to break them into chunks. Transfer to the pan (skillet), stir well and remove from the heat.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/gas mark 5. In a small bowl, whisk the peanut butter, apple cider vinegar and 2 tbsp water. Add to the pan (skillet) and stir all the ingredients together, then mix in the almond flour and flaxseeds.
- Grease a 27cm (10½ in) ring cake tin (pan) and transfer the orange and cranberry mixture to the tin (pan). Firmly press the mixture down into the ring with the back of a spoon or spatula, so that it is densely packed in. Carefully smooth the surface and transfer to the preheated oven.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, turning the ring around halfway through the cooking time to ensure it bakes evenly. Once the edges begin to brown, remove from the oven.
- Allow your wreath to cool for 10-15 minutes, before turning it upside down onto a serving dish and carefully removing the cake ring.
- Decorate the top of the wreath with cranberry sauce, orange zest and chopped nuts (if using). Serve this festive roast with green beans and a brandy peppercorn sauce, if you like.
Adapted from The Ultimate Guide to Vegan Roasts by Romy London (Page Street Publishing Co. 2022). Photography: Romina Callwitz.
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