Meatless Farm Festive Fake

Method

1. For the sauce, pour the milk into a pan, stud half an onion with 8 cloves and 1 bay leave. Place into the milk and heat gently. Remove the milk from the heat and leave to infuse for an hour. After an hour discard the studded onion (you can always keep the onion, slice it and roast it with garlic for a nice sandwich filler).
2. Place the butter in a separate saucepan and melt over a medium heat, tip in the flour and using a wooden spoon beat together.
3. Cook the butter/flour mixture over a medium heat, stirring constantly for 2 mins. Then slowly add a bit of the warm milk at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined. Keep stirring and cooking the sauce for 5 mins or until it’s nicely thickened. Tip in the  stuffing mix and grate in a little nutmeg and season well with black pepper and salt. Cook on a low heat until thickened and the stuffing mix is soft. Set aside to cool (Tip: Cover the sauce with clingfilm touching the surface of the sauce, this will help stop a skin forming).
4. Cut up the sausages into 5 equal chunks. Place a non-stick pan over a medium heat with a splash of oil. Place the sausage chunks in the pan and cook for 4 mins on each side until evenly coloured. Mix together the maple and Dijon and brush over the sausage chunks, cook for a further 2 mins then set aside.
5. Pre heat your oven to 180C/350F. Roll the pastry out into four 11cm x 14xm rectangles. Lay out two of the sheets of pastry, spread 2 tbsp of the stuffing/bechamel sauce on each piece of pastry. Leave an edge of around 1.5cm. Crumble on the Dijon glazed sausage, the chestnuts and drizzle over some of the cranberry jam and sprinkle over the chives or sage. Season well with pepper and salt.
6. Brush the edge of the pastry with egg wash or vegan egg wash.
7. Very lightly score the other two pieces of pastry with a knife or pastry lattice cutter. Lay these sheets on top of the filled pastry. Crimp the edges of pastry together then brush the tops of the bakes with more egg wash. Carefully lay the festive fakes on a baking tray lined with grease proof paper. Top each one with a grating of black pepper and a sprinkle of fresh or dried sage.
8. Bake in the oven for 15-20 mins until golden brown.
9. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 15 mins before devouring