Portobello Mushrooms with Chestnut Stuffing and Yellow Pepper Dressing

In February, my friend Elliott and I decided to cook a vegan supper every night - I came up with the recipes week by week and we made the dishes in our respective kitchens, then we compared the results on our phones. It was such an interesting exercise, not least because each evening our dishes often looked very different, despite the fact that we were using the same ingredients and following the same method!

Even though I often test and create recipes as part of my job, I’d not previously had much experience of vegan cooking and it was so interesting to learn new techniques and find ways around not being able to use dairy products (or even honey).

I posted every recipe on Instagram each evening, and I’ve been promising ever since that I’d put the best of the recipes on here. But I’ve been incredibly busy with work and big new projects happening in the village (of which more another time), so today’s the first time I’ve had a chance to sit down and type them out properly. To kick things, off, this was one of my top 5 suppers from our vegan month. It’s great as a main dish or as a side dish - and I challenge even confirmed meat-eaters not to enjoy it!

Don’t be tempted to leave out the dried cherries from the stuffing – they’re what make the dish really special (they’re in the supermarket in the same aisle as the dried apricots). And you can buy cooked chestnuts vacuum-packed in the supermarket too – Merchant Gourmet is a good brand to look out for.