Vegetable Strudel

2 tablespoons polyunsaturated vegetable oil
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 celery stalk, sliced
100 g/4 07 button mushrooms, wiped and sliced
2 tablespoons plain wholemeal flour
150 ml/3/4 pint vegetable stock
1 tablespoon tomato purée
225 g/8 oz tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 small cauliflower, cooked and roughly
chopped
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
3/4 teaspoon dried basil
salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 x 375 g/13 oz packet puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten

Heat the oil in a frying pan and saute the onion, garlic and celery until soft. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 minute. Add the flour, then gradually stir in the stock and tomato purée. Bring to the boil, stirring.

Remove from the heat, and add the tomatoes, cauliflower and herbs. Season with salt and pepper to taste, then leave to cool.

Roll out the pastry to a 36 ein/14 inch square. Spread the cooked vegetable filling over the pastry. leaving a 2.5 cm/1 inch border around the edge. Brush this border with beaten egg. Fold the pastry in half and press the edges together to seal. Brush the pastry with beaten egg and roll up like a Swiss roll.

Carefully place on a baking tray. Brush with beaten egg to glaze and make several slits along the top of the strudel. Bake in a preheated moderately hot oven (200 °C/400 °F, Gas Mark 6) for 30 minutes. Cut into slices to serve.

SERVES 4