My daughter has reverted to being a vegetarian and has asked for a nut roast for Christmas dinner. I’ve been experimenting and this cashew nut roast seems promising.
Ingredients
Main roast
- 150 g cashew nuts
- small onion
- 125 g chestnut mushrooms
- bunch fresh thyme
- 4 oz breadcrumbs
- 1 egg
- 1 oz butter
Stuffing
- 3 oz breadcrumbs
- lemon
- bunch fresh parsley
- 1 egg
Method
Prepare the stuffing first. Make the breadcrumbs using fresh brown bread and place in a bowl.
I used white bread for both in this version, but in future I’ll use brown bread for the stuffing and white for the main roast to produce a contrast.
Chop the parsley finely – I prefer curly leafed parsley – and add to the breadcrumbs. Grate the rind from the lemon and add this, plus the juice to the breadcrumbs. Mix well then bind together using a beaten egg. Stand to one side.
Make the breadcrumbs for the main roast and place in a bowl. Crush the cashew nuts, either in a blender or use a rolling pin on a board. Mix the cashews with the breadcrumbs.
Chop both the onion and the mushrooms finely. In a cooking pan melt 1 oz butter. Add the the onion, mushrooms and the thyme leaves. Cook over a gentle heat for a couple of minutes.
Put the onion and mushroom mix into the breadcrumbs and nuts. Mix well and bind together with a beaten egg. It will be a bit crumbly, not completely solid.
Put a sheet of baking parchment into a loaf tin. Put half the main roast mix in the bottom of the tin. Spoon the stuffing on to this and then finally the last part of the main roast.
Cover with tinfoil and bake at 180 C for an hour, taking the tinfoil off for the last ten minutes to crisp the top.
Take out and either eat it hot with gravy or a sauce. It can also be eaten cold. I enjoyed a slice as it was – it would be good in a lunch box.
Enjoy!
Nannie RaRa 