I always feel a little sorry for vegetarians at a holiday dinner. They watch the non-vegetarians sit down to a feast of dish after dish of special, once a year treats, and depending on the crowd they may be lucky to get more than a salad and a bun. At least there is usually lots of dessert.

Well, my vegetarian friends, it is time to turn the tables and make those meat eaters jealous. Remember, you don’t have to share unless you want to.

Makes: about 8-12 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 leek, rinsed and chopped, mostly the white and light green parts (save the darker parts for broth)
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp oil (olive oil or canola oil)
• 1 pound mushrooms, wiped clean and roughly chopped (I used 10 large cremini mushrooms)
• 1/4 cup white wine or cooking sherry (or veggie broth if you prefer)
• 1 tsp thyme, finely chopped
• 1 tsp sage, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 can white beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 granny smith apples, peeled (or not) and chopped into small bite size pieces
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 1/2 cups veggie broth, room temperature or warmer
• 1 loaf (1 lb or 450g) sourdough bread, cut into bite-size chunks
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Lightly butter your largest casserole dish – I used an 8″x13″ and it was just a little too small
2. Sautee together the leek (1), celery ribs (3) and garlic cloves (3) in the oil (1 tbsp) and butter (1 tbsp) until the veggies are transparent and just barely start to brown
3. Remove the veggies from the pan and put them in a very large bowl (seriously very large)
4. Place the mushrooms in the same pan, lightly salting them and adding a bit more butter or oil if needed to keep them from sticking
5. Sautee the mushrooms until they have let go of their water, the water has evaporated and the mushrooms are starting to sear
6. Use wine/sherry/broth to deglaze the pan (1/4 cup)
7. Add mushrooms (and delicious scrapings) to the veggies
8. Add thyme (1 tsp), sage (1 tsp), rosemary (1/2 tsp), beans, apples, egg, butter (1/2 cup), veggie broth (1 1/2 cups) and salt and pepper to taste to the bowl, stir together well
9. Add the bread to the bowl and mix thoroughly
10. Let sit on the counter for at least half an hour or up to a day or two in the fridge
11. When you are ready to cook this, preheat oven to 350 degrees
12. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes, until the centre is starting to set and the top is starting to brown
13. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before digging in

Notes:

• This can be easily veganized by using vegan butter instead of butter, skipping the egg and adding a bit more veggie broth.
• I highly recommend serving this with mushroom gravy (coming soon!) or some other veggie gravy of your choice.