This roast is an amazing substitution for meat on Christmas day, or any other day. It’s also really nice to toast the slices and pair with leftover vegetables, poached eggs or anything else. It’s the roast that keeps on giving.
Serves: 8
Timing:
Preparation, about 30 minutes
Cooking: 1 hour, 15 minutes (plus about 20 minutes to rest and cool down a little)
Ingredients
200g red lentils
½ onion
1 carrot
3 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon garlic salt
400g mushrooms
210g peeled and cooked chestnuts
Handful of kale and spinach
100g brown rice flour
1 tablespoon chia seeds
Generous amounts of Salt/pepper
Method
1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c.
2. Cook the lentils according to the package instructions.
3. While the lentils are cooking, finely chop the onions and add to a frying pan with some olive oil. Cook for about five minutes on a medium heat or until they are transparent.
4. Finely chop the carrot and add to the onions with the thyme, garlic salt, salt and pepper. Cook these for about five minutes, stirring frequently. After the five minutes, turn off the heat while you prepare everything else.
5. Put the mushrooms in a blender and blitz until the texture of mince (depending on the size of your blender you may need to do this in stages, or chop the mushrooms in half/quarters before).
6. Once the mushrooms have been blended, add the chestnuts, kale and spinach and pulse. You don’t want this completely smooth but it’s up to you how chunky.
7. Add this mix to the pan with the lentils, flour, chia seeds, salt and pepper.
8. Once it is all mixed well, pour into a loaf tin lined with greaseproof paper. I use a 2lb loaf tin.
9. Place in the oven for about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Start checking after about 45 minutes to ensure the top isn’t burning.
10. Once the top is a nice golden brown and a knife comes out clean, remove from the oven and leave to firm up in the loaf tin for about 20 minutes. You can then cut into slices. Serve with the usual roast dinner trimmings!