Vegan Nut Roast

A nut roast or roasted nut loaf is a rich and savoury vegetarian/vegan dish consisting of nuts and grains and seasonings formed into a firm loaf shape. Often eaten as alternative to British style roast dinner. This vegan nut roast , which is great served hot for Christmas dinner, or cold for your festive buffet table.

Ingredients:

• 300g mixed nuts, eg: almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, pecans or Brazil nuts
• 1 vegan vegetable stock cube
• 2 tbsp olive oil plus extra for greasing
• 1 onions, finely chopped
• 2 celery sticks, finely chopped
• 1 leek, trimmed and thinly sliced, about 100g
• 2 carrots, coarsely grated, about 150g
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 4 tbsp cashew butter**
• 180g cooked chestnut, broken into small pieces
• 75g dried cranberries
• 20g fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1 lemon, finely grated zest only
• 4 tbsp soya or almond milk
• 1 tsp salt
• freshly ground black pepper

Method:

Put the nuts and stock cube into a food processor and blitz until chopped into small pieces but not fully ground. If you don't have a food processor, chop all the nuts as finely as you can.

Preheat the oven to 200ºC/180ºC for fan oven. Lightly oil and line the base of a 900g/2lb loaf tin with baking paper.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and gently fry the onion, celery, leek and carrots for 5 minutes or until softened, stirring regularly. Add the garlic and cook for a few seconds more.

Tip into the mixing bowl and stir in the cashew nut butter**. Add the chopped nuts, chestnuts, cranberries, parsley, lemon zest, soya or almond milk and salt. Season with lots of ground black pepper and stir until thoroughly mixed.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared loaf tin. Press down with a spoon firmly to compact the mixture. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for further 20 minutes, or until the loaf is hot throughout and lightly browned.

Remove the tin carefully from the oven and cool for 5 minutes before loosening the edges of the loaf with a table knife and turning out onto a board or platter. Cut into thick slices and serve hot with vegan gravy.

**To make the cashew butter: 240g roasted lightly salted cashews and ½ tsp salt or to taste.

Add the cashews to a blender and blend low for 8-10 minutes or until creamy, scrapping down the sides with spatula as necessary. Add salt, and blend for another 20-30 seconds. Transfer to a jar or airtight container, and store in the fridge.