My Perfect Nut Roast

I've always struggled with a nut roast as they can lack texture and depth of flavour but I think I've cracked it with this nutty delight, it has lots of crunch and a good depth of flavour

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

2 sticks of celery, diced

2 carrots, diced

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

Bunch of Parsley, chopped

200g chestnuts, chopped

50g, unsulphured apricots, chopped

100g mixed nuts – I used 50g Brazils, 25g almonds, 25g walnuts

100g Oats

Pinch of nutmeg

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 flaxseed egg or 1 egg

2 tbsp vegan Worcester sauce – I use Biona

1 can butter beans

100ml vegetable bouillon

Salt & Pepper  

Method

Set the oven to 200c

Line a loaf tin

Make the flaxseed egg (1 tbsp milled flaxseed mixed with 3 tbsp water and left to swell for 15mins in fridge)

Dice the onions, celery, carrots and crush the garlic

Roughly chop the mixed nuts, you can put these in a blender but you need them to be quite chunky

Chop the chestnuts and apricots

In a heavy based pan heat the olive oil and add the onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Sweat until soft, remove from heat and allow to cool.

In a blender add the parsley and blend until chopped finely, add the butter beans, nutritional yeast and onion mixture, blend for 30 seconds and transfer into a large bowl

Into the bowl add the oats, chopped nuts, apricots, chestnuts, pinch of nutmeg, and salt and pepper, mix together

Make up 1tsp vegetable bouillon with 100ml hot water and 2tbsp vegan Worcester sauce

Stir in the flaxseed egg.

Spoon into the loaf tin and smooth the top

Bake for 45-60minutes until golden and crispy

Remove from the oven and place a sheet of baking parchment onto the loaf, another tin and some weights.  Leave this for 15-20mins before serving.

Serve with an onion gravy and all the trimmings