Can anyone believe it’s almost Christmas again. I will be sharing festive recipes in the weeks leading up to Christmas. This week is the first recipe. It’s certainly a winner. I took the nut roast recipe I developed for my cookbook and then jazzed it up with some mushrooms and silverbeet and wrapped it in a homemade gluten free pastry and served it with cranberry sauce. It certainly is something else. I got the original idea of wrapping up the nut roast in pastry from one of my lovely subscribers. Thank you!!!
For the Nut Roast
Ingredients
1 onion diced finely (optional)
Oil to fry the onion and mushrooms
2 cups of nuts and 1 cup of seeds - I used a combination of almonds, cashews, walnuts, hazelnuts and sunflower seeds (if you want a nut free version just use 3 cups of sunflower and pepita seeds)
1 tbsp fresh thyme chopped fine
1 tbsp fresh sage chopped fine
1 large handful of parsley chopped fine
2 tbsp chia seeds
½ cup water
1½ cups cooked brown rice
1 small block non-gmo silken tofu.
1 tbsp gluten free tamari
Juice of half a large lemon
A good 15 or so grinds of fresh pepper
Salt to taste
Method
1. Fry the onion in oil until almost translucent.
2. Place in a large mixing bowl.
3. Place the nuts and seeds in a food processor and chop until fine. Mix the chia seeds with the water and let swell for 5 or so minutes.
4. Place the silken tofu and swollen chia seeds in a food processor and combine for a few minutes. Put the silken tofu and chia mixture in the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix well.
For the Mushrooms and Silverbeet
Ingredients
4 large Portabello mushrooms (the really big mushrooms – or get equivalent in quantity)
1 bunch silverbeet
Splash olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Method
1. Cut the mushrooms into small pieces and fry until brown.
2. Wilt the silverbeet in a saucepan and then slice. Finely mix the mushrooms and silverbeet together and season with salt and pepper.
For the Pastry
For the Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
1 cup dried cranberries or 2 cups fresh
½ cup fruit juice
¼ cup water
¼ tsp all spice
¼ tsp cinnamon
Method
Place everything in a saucepan and leave on simmer for 15 minutes. With a hand held blender, blend just half of the sauce leaving plenty of the cranberries whole.
To Assemble the Wellington
¼ cup plant milk
Pinch turmeric
Method
1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Place baking paper on a baking tray.
3. Mix the milk with the turmeric.
4. Get the pastry out of the fridge and cut into 4 pieces. Flour your board and rolling pin and roll out each piece to form a rectangle making the pastry a few millimeters thick.
5. Place a spoon of the nut mix along the middle of the pastry in a line, add on some of the mushroom spinach mix then top with more nut roast. Roll the pastry around the nut mixture until it forms a log. Cut any excess pastry off.
6. Place the seam side down on the baking tray and brush with the milk and turmeric.
7. Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes or until the pastry looks cooked.
8. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing. Serve with the cranberry sauce.