Nut Roast en croute

Cook this perfect festive nut roast recipe-it's not just for vegans and will make a great addition to your Christmas dinner. 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp groundnut oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 celery stick, finelly chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and finelly chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finelly chopped
• 250g chestnut mushroom, finelly chopped
• 150g mixed nuts
• 100g red lentils, rinsed
• 100g cooked chestnuts, crumbled
• 1 pack ready to roll light puff pastry
• 3 tbsp almond milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 200°C/180°C for fan oven.

Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan over medium-low heat and cook the onion, celery and carrots for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Increase the heat to medium-high , add the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Toast the nuts in the oven for 7 minutes. Set aside to cool. Then whiz in the food processor until coarsely ground. 

Meanwhile, cook the red lentils according to the packet instructions. Drain well, then whizz in a food processor.

Combine the nuts, lentils, and crumbled cooked chestnuts with sautéed vegetables. Season to taste and leave to cool.

Once the mixture has cooled, roll out the puff pastry and leave on its paper. Form the mixture into a loaf that is about 3cm shorter than the width of the pastry. Lay the filling on the left-hand side, leaving a boarder of 1.5cm on top and bottom, then fold the other half of the pastry over the filling and press down to encase it completely.

Brush the pastry with the almond milk, then place on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for over 40-45 minutes, until the pastry is nice and golden.