Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst ’s recipes
Sarah Akhurst
Our Food Director Sarah is a food obsessive, and spends most of her time scoping out the latest food trends, experimenting in her own kitchen, or making her family wait to eat while she photographs every dinner she makes for the 'gram! A complete Middle Eastern food junkie, she is never far from a good shawarma marinade, a pinch of Aleppo chilli or a sprig of dill
See more of Sarah Akhurst ’s recipes
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Ingredients
350g diced butternut squash
1 tbsp chopped sage (or 1 tsp dried), plus a few leaves
350g parsnips, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp chopped rosemary (or 1 tsp dried), plus sprigs
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, finely chopped
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground nutmeg
1 x 400g tin lentils, rinsed and drained
100g cooked chestnuts
60g dried apricots, diced
60g dried cranberries
300g mixed nuts, chopped (we used a mixed bag, but use up whatever is in your storecupboard)
3 medium eggs, beaten
For the chestnut gravy
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
2 echalion shallots, finely chopped
1 tsp smoked garlic granules
1 tbsp chopped rosemary (or 1 tsp dried)
1 tbsp plain flour
200g chestnut purée
500ml vegetable stock (use 1 cube)
80g cooked chestnuts, chopped
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The nut roast can be assembled and kept in the fridge the day before baking, or frozen, making it perfect to prep ahead for Christmas. Defrost fully before baking, adding an extra 10 minutes or so to make sure it’s piping hot. The gravy can also be made ahead and frozen.
Preheat the oven to 180°C, fan 160°C, gas 4. Line a 20cm springform cake tin with baking paper. Boil the squash for 8-10 minutes or until tender, then remove to a bowl with a draining spoon. Crush gently, season and stir through the sage. Repeat the process with the parsnips, adding the rosemary to the crushed parsnip. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion for 5-6 minutes, until soft. Add the cinnamon and nutmeg, then the lentils, chestnuts and dried fruit. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in the chopped nuts and eggs then season well.
Spoon a third of the nut mixture into the prepared tin and level out. Top with the parsnip mixture and press down evenly. Continue with another third of the nut mixture, followed by the squash, then the remaining nut mixture. Bake for 45 minutes.
For the gravy, heat the oil in a pan and soften the shallots, garlic granules and rosemary for 4-5 minutes. Add the flour and cook for 1 minute, then mix in the chestnut purée, followed by the stock. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, or until thickened. Add the chopped chestnuts and season to taste..
Leave the nut roast to rest for 10 minutes, then remove. Garnish with herbs and serve with gravy.
A nut roast or roasted nut loaf is a vegetarian dish consisting of nuts, grains, vegetable oils, broth or butter, and seasonings formed into a firm loaf shape or long casserole dish before roasting and often eaten as an alternative to a traditional British style roast dinner.
Certainly, to freeze, allow the Nut Roast to cool and cut into slices/portions.Wrap in tin foil and freeze slices individually. The great thing is this Christmas Nut Roast can be cooked from frozen, simply pop a tin foil parcel in the oven and cook for 30 minutes at 200C / 390F.
Nut roasts are a popular vegetarian option. They're high in calories because of the fats in nuts, although these are generally the healthier unsaturated kind. A 120g portion of nut roast contains an extra 10g of fat and 72kcal more than an average portion of roast chicken.
The roast may be over-cooking in the oven slightly. Ovens vary a lot and sometimes the temperature and air circulation is very different and can have quite a big effect on what you're cooking. If the roast is cooking too much it will dry out and be crumbly. Try reducing the cooking time by 5 mins.
Again, aluminum foil is the key to reheating your roast without drying it out. Wrap your roast in foil with a 1/4 cup of beef stock added to help retain the prime rib's juicy flavor, and place it in the oven once it has been preheated to 300°F.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Remove roast from packaging. For rare roast place in oven in a heat-proof casserole dish and heat for approximately 15 minutes per lb or until the internal temperature reaches 115°F. We recommend using an internal meat thermometer for reheating.
If food has been hygienically prepared, cooled quickly after cooking (or reheating) and stored cold, reheating more than once should not increase the risk of illness. However, prolonged storage and repeated reheating will affect the taste, texture, and sometimes the nutritional quality of foods.
Once the dish has cooled completely, transfer it to an airtight, freezer-safe container, seal and freeze for up to 1-3 months. To serve, defrost thoroughly in the fridge overnight before reheating.
When it comes to freezing meat, it should always be frozen as fast as possible. This prevents the formation of large ice crystals along the meat's surface, which can lead to freezer burn and result in dryer, tougher meat when thawed.
During the wrapping, take care to make sure little air gets into it. Lay the freezer paper flat and put the meat into one corner. After folding the corner of the freezer paper over the meat, roll the meat onto the paper, constantly keeping pressure to keep as much air out as possible.
Roasting is defined as cooking using dry heat, which cooks the food evenly on all sides. Most nuts are roasted without their shell, except for pistachios, which are often roasted in-shell. Meanwhile, raw nuts have not been roasted.
Cut from the shoulder of a cow, chuck roast is rather tough, but it is still well-marbled which means that as it braises in the oven, there will be plenty of fat that seeps out of the meat. That fat means your finished pot roast will be juicy and tender.
Almonds: Roasting almonds gives the otherwise bland nuts a bold, rich flavor. Pecans: Roasting pecans brings out their nutty aroma. Walnuts: Roasting walnuts removes their bitterness. Pine nuts: Smaller nuts such as pine nuts are notorious for burning quickly.
Introduction: My name is Kelle Weber, I am a magnificent, enchanting, fair, joyous, light, determined, joyous person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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Prep time: 45 mins
