I had been craving a nut roast for ages.  I have no idea why as I can’t recall ever eating one.  After trawling my cookbooks and the internet, I found this recipe.  In my typical style, I have Beccy-fied it and created my own loaf.

This loaf is delicious hot or cold and handy for slicing up and freezing into portions.  It’s a great way to use up vegetables and a sneaky way of getting vegetable dodgers to have different types if vegetables in a meal!

Aside from the onion which I diced finely and the carrot which I grated the other vegetables should be chopped fairly small but you still want some texture within the loaf so I wouldn’t chop them too small.  In the loaf that is pictured I had added chopped parsley but I didn’t feel that it added anything to the loaf so I’ve omitted it from the ingredients list, but by all means add some to your liking.

I served this with roasted tomatoes and garlic on the side but steamed green beans would work great too, or even some homemade chutney or pickle.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

-200g red split lentils, rinsed thoroughly

-450ml gluten free vegetable stock, cube or homemade

-1 bay leaf

-150g unsalted cashew nuts

-1 Tbsp. rapeseed oil or olive oil

-1 red onion, finely diced

-1 large leek, trimmed, washed and chopped

-1 yellow pepper, deseeded and chopped

-100g mushrooms (I used chestnut), cleaned and quartered

-2 garlic cloves, crushed

-100g gluten free oats

-2 tsp. Dijon mustard

-1 egg, beaten

-salt & pepper to taste

How to Make

Place the rinsed lentils in a pan along with the stock and bay leaf.  Bring to a boil then reduce to simmer, cover for 15 minutes. Stirring a couple of times to ensure lentils aren’t sticking.  The lentils should be soft and mushy and the stock absorbed. Remove bay leaf once lentils have cooked.

In a dry frying pan, toast the cashew nuts until lightly browned then remove and set aside in a bowl to cool then roughly chop.

Pre-heat oven to 190C/375F and line the base of  a 1.4litre loaf tin with baking parchment.

In a large frying pan add the oil and warm over a medium heat then add the onion.  Cook the onion for 2-3 minutes then add the leek.  Cook for a further 2 minutes then add the garlic, pepper and mushrooms.  Cook the vegetables over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes until the vegetables are becoming slightly tender.  Add the carrot and cook for another 2 minutes.

In a large bowl combine the cooked lentils, cashew nuts and vegetables and mustard.  Stir well until everything is fully combined then season with salt and pepper to taste.  Once the mixture is cool to the touch add the beaten egg and stir well until the egg is combined.

Pour mixture into the prepared loaf tin and cover with foil.  Cook for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes remove the foil and continue to cook for another 30-40 minutes, until the top is brown and crispy.

Remove from oven and allow to sit for 10 minutes before removing from the loaf tin.

Either serve immediately or allow to cool and slice and wrap in foil to store in the fridge or freezer.

Enjoy 🙂