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Monday, December 3, 2012

Christmas Nut Roast - Vegetarian Main Dish


written by: Bel
 A Christmas Nut Roast is hard to find.   
I'd never really seen a Nut Roast let alone tasted one till last week.

A good challenge thanks Declutterbug Versus Captain Stingy Pants!  
I looked in all the latest Christmas mags for a good Vegie. main for Christmas and was a little disappointed with what was on offer.  Lots of dishes but not what I'd call a main - like a Turkey.

Then googling around i found Green Gourmet Giraffe  who has lots and lots of Nut Roasts on her Blog all of which looked pretty good and i learnt probably the most here.  



I decided to make my own. 
Seen as i was doing that I'd make it Wheat, Dairy and Egg FREE to look after one of my BBF's .   
I also wanted it to slice without crumbling and be Christmassy.

I was really really happy with the end result.   
Its a little red and green and really tasty and i think it will suit the Declutterbug for her Christmas.



Ingredients
400g Walnuts
2 tbsp Olive Oil
2 tbsp Chopped Garlic
250g Cashews
1 cup Potato mashed
250g Frozen Chopped Spinach
1 cup Peas
1/3 bunch Basil
1 Red Capsicum


Method
Preheat oven 180 degrees Celsius. Line a large loaf tin with baking paper.

Defrost and cook your frozen chopped spinach in saucepan until all thawed then squeeze out moisture and drain really well. Leave in strainer whilst you make the rest below.
You can use fresh i just prefer the less mucking around.



Slice the capsicum thickly and cook in fry pan with little cooking spray till malleable.







Lay on bottom of a baking paper lined loaf tin with skin side down.  Then add a few large basil leaves. This just adds to the colour when you take it out.



In a processor chop up well all 400g of walnuts add 2 tbsp of Olive Oil.
Pending on the size of your mixer you might need to transfer to a large bowl.







Then add your cashews whole, garlic (you can use the jar stuff no worries)  and mashed potato mix up well.
(i made my mash with 2 potatoes and 2 tbs water)


Press about a 1/3rd of the walnut mixture into loaf tin on top of capsicum and whole basil leaves.  I used my hands it was much easier.  Press it down tight.







In the processor again put the 1 cup of peas and 1/3 bunch of basil leaves mush them up well and put into a bowl.  Give the spinach a good last squeeze to get rid of any excess water and add to peas and basil. Mix it together well.


Layer it down on top of the walnut mixture and press down well.

I added a little salt and pepper here.






Then put the remaining Walnut on top and press down firmly.



Cover with foil and bake in oven for 45mins and then remove foil and cook for further 15mins.





Rest in tin for about 10mins and then cover with plate and tip up and over so its right side up. Remove tin and paper.   Viola!

Slice into wedges and serve with salad, vegies whatever you like.   

Stole another idea from Green Gourmet Giraffe  and mixed some mashed potato with chives and Parmesan and filled the star cookie cutters. Then baked them for about 10 mins.  I'll have to have another go at that as they weren't nearly as good as Johanna the Green Gourmet's 










Linking up with Jess for IBOT.




18 comments:

  1. Nom nom nom that looks fantastic! Well done, I can't wait to try it :) mum gave me some proper Yorkshire pudding tins and this is the perfect main to serve with roast veg and yorkies

    Challenge well and truly met, and exceeded xxx

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    1. glad you like it. if you make it i want photos :)

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  2. I have never heard of a nut roast but I like the sounds of it!! Cannot imagine it will go down too well at chrissy with the meat eaters but I have vegie friends whowould love this!!
    I love the idea of the mashed potato stars.

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  3. I have never heard if this before sounds lovely. Thanks for sharing

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  4. That is making me hungry. I'd eat that any day, let alone at Christmas. Yuuuum!

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  5. My sister would definitely enjoy this one!!!


    #teamIBOT

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  6. I will have to show this recipe to my girlfriend, she would love this!

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  7. I'd like to try this , I am trying to eat more vegetarian but struggling to find good recipes.

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  8. I love all those colours in the nut roast - sounds delicious - I have tried a veg pate which is quite like a nut roast and uses grated raw potato which gives an interesting texture when cooked - I don't think I have used mashed potato in a nut roast (have put it on top before) - glad you found my nut roasts a good inspiration

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  9. You know I think I would actually like to give that a try! thanks for the post!!

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  10. Oh this might be good for my mum who is vegetarian too. Thanks for the recipe :)

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  11. That looks great! My veggie friends would swoon if I served that up...

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  12. Hello, that looks great. I do a layered cashew and mushroom nut roast for my hubby for Christmas but it doesn't look anything like as festive as this. Very cool!

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  13. Yum!! A friend of mine runs a website called superchargedfood.com I'm sure she'd love to,hear of this recipe. Merry x

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  14. Looks interesting. Well done. I've never heard of or tried a nut roast before.

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  15. Thanks for sharing this recipe - I will file that one for the hard to cook for person at christmas! BTW I have tagged you in a christmas wish list game started by Essentially Jess - I really hope you can take part and keep the game moving through the blogosphere!

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  16. Yum - your seriously need to write your own cookbook, I get hungry and a watering mouth every time I visit.

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