Vegan nut roast

SERVES 6

•1 tbsp olive oil

•1 small onion, finely diced

•3 garlic cloves, minced

•2 small carrots, diced

•2 celery sticks, diced

•200g button mushrooms, diced

•3 sage leaves, roughly chopped

•1 tbsp dried parsley

•1 tsp dried rosemary or 2 sprigs finely diced • 450g tinned or precooked packet lentils, rinsed and drained thoroughly (we used Merchant Gourmet microwave packet lentils because they are already quite dry) •1 tbsp ground flax seed, or whole linseeds

blitzed until finely ground in a blender •70g breadcrumbs

•30g porridge oats

•3 tbsp tomato paste

•2 tsp olive oil

METHOD

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large casserole dish or saucepan, over medium heat. Fry the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, mushrooms, sage, parsley, rosemary and lentils for 5 mins and season with salt and pepper.

2. Add the flaxseed, breadcrumbs, oats and 2 tbsp tomato paste, leaving 1 tbsp for the topping.

3. Add a portion of the partly cooked vegetables to a food processor. You want to pulse the ingredients together really lightly, in batches, so you maintain some chunk in the mixture – you don’t want to purée it. If you end up over-blending a batch of it, then you can add a small portion of an unblended batch to it.

4. Lightly oil a non-stick meatloaf tin with 1 tsp olive oil or coconut oil. If your tin isn’t non-stick, line it with baking paper.

5. Pack the lentil mixture into the tin.

Bake the loaf for 20 mins. Mix the remaining tablespoon of tomato paste and a teaspoon of olive oil and cover the meatloaf with it.

6. Take it out of the oven and cover with a mixture of 1 tbsp tomato paste and 1 tsp olive oil. Pop it back in the oven and cook for a final 15 mins.

7. Allow to cool for at least 15 mins before removing. Serve the loaf with Brussels sprouts, cabbage or any other favourite vegetables.