Today I am thinking back to my wonderful Christmas dinner, now that the festive season is properly over and everything has settled down. I'd like to make a note and remember the beautiful nut roast I created, after all it was one of the most complex dishes I've made so far, I don't want to lose the recipe! It is adapted from a Tesco Real Food one to make it Gluten Free and Vegan!
So here it is, the most wonderful nut roast and dish I've made so far!
Ingredients: (Makes 2 loaf shaped nut roasts!)
1 Large Butternut Squash
8 Cloves Garlic
4 tbsp Olive Oil and a little more for greasing
1 Aubergine
8 Small Shallots
1 Red Pepper
1 x 400g tin Chickpeas
125g Almonds
125g Shelled Pistachios (Make sure you get shelled, it took so long to shell this many!(Thanks Dad!))
15g Rosemary
15g Thyme
15g Parsley
60g Gluten Free Mrs Crimble's Breadcrumbs
1/2 Lemon Juiced
Method:
1: There is a lot to prepare so get your best knife out, maybe a volunteer to pick the leaves off the herbs (that took so long!) and get bowls ready to keep the veg separate after the chopping. Also, preheat the oven to 200c/180c for Fan, also line your tin or tins with baking paper and a little Oil.
2: You need to peel the Butternut Squash, deseed it and then cut it into cubes.
3: Cut the aubergine into cubes as well, these should be around 1cm in size.
4: Peel the skin off the shallots and cut the ends off, then dice.
5: Deseed and then dice the Red Pepper into 1cm pieces as well.
6: De-leaf the fresh Rosemary, Thyme and Parsley leaves, you don't want any stalks etc.
7: Juice half of a Lemon.
8: Peel the cloves of Garlic and then all the veg prep is done!
9: Toss the cubed Butternut Squash with the Garlic Cloves and 2 tbsp of olive oil in a bowl. Then spread it out over a roasting tin, cook for 15-20
minutes or until soft, turning it halfway through cooking. Mine took a little longer than 20 minutes to get soft so keep an eye on them and don't worry if they take a lot longer than 20 minutes.
10: While the Butternut Squash is cooking, heat a large frying pan or grill pan (there is a lot of Aubergine so size accordingly) over a medium heat with 1 tbsp oil. Add the Aubergine and cook for 10-15 minutes until softened and well browned, then transfer to a large bowl.
11: Add the last tbsp of Oil to the now empty frying pan and add the shallots. Cook those for about 5-10 minutes or until softened, then add the Pepper and cook for another 5 minutes. Once all cooked, add to the bowl with the Aubergine and set aside.
12: Once the Butternut Squash and Garlic is cooked, add them to a food processor and pulse them until a chunky puree is created. When I say pulse, I mean pulse, don't blitz it or you'll just make a smooth mash.
13: Once you have a chunky puree, add it to the Aubergine, Pepper and Shallots bowl.
14: Drain the Chickpeas, Almonds, Pistachios and Herbs to the empty food processor and pulse until it is all roughly chopped.
15: Add this to the bowl with the remaining vegetables, then add the Gluten Free Breadcrumbs and the Lemon juice.
16: Combine all of the ingredients together, I used my hands to do this which was pretty messy but I felt that it was the best way to do it and probably caused less mess than with utensils. (I tend to fling things everywhere otherwise!)
17: Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin or tins, and smooth the top to create an even surface. Bake for 50-55 minutes, or until the top is golden although the mix is pretty golden anyway, so just make sure it crisps up!
18: Allow to rest for about 5 minutes in order to ensure it stays together. When cutting it, be careful as it can be crumbly but don't worry it tastes good no matter what.
19: Serve with your favourite roasties, veg and gravy, then enjoy! Writing this recipe has made me super hungry for it all over again, it doesn't have to be eaten at Christmas and is a great veggie alternative for any roast dinner!