A wonderful centrepiece for a meat-free Christmas dinner – our Vegetarian Roast with Cranberries & Pistachios is our favourite thing to have with a good helping of delicious gravy and all the other compulsory trimmings! Made with two types of mushrooms and green lentils, and generously studded with pistachios and dried cranberries, this is a good looking roast that will impress both with the flavours and textures!
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From this years Christmas recipe collection, you will probably notice a theme: I use pistachios and cranberries in everything. Unsurprisingly so, pistachios are my favourite nut. Not only extremely buttery and tasty, but pistachios also add to the aesthetics of dishes too with their bright green colour. Cranberries are, of course, a Christmas tradition, but they add that little bit of tart sweetness that is just great in this vegetarian roast.
Another one of my favourite ingredients is dried porcini mushrooms (also known as ceps). The deep, nutty flavour of porcini is hard to beat, but in this roast, it’s also about the tiny bits of texture that rehydrated porcini provide.
How to Make our Vegetarian Roast?
Cook green lentils following instructions on a packet. Once cooked, drain and leave to cool down.
In the meantime, pour hot water over dried porcini mushrooms, just enough to submerge and leave for 15-20 minutes for the mushrooms to rehydrate. Then chop them finely.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over low heat. Melt the butter in the pan, then add the onions and sautee for 6-7 minutes until softened. Add the chopped chestnut and porcini mushrooms, a pinch of salt and cook for a further 7-8 minutes until the water has released and evaporated.
In the meantime, chop the cranberries and pistachios roughly. Coarsely grate cheddar cheese.
Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan.
Mash the cooled lentils into a rough paste (if you have a food processor, just blitz them for a few seconds). Add the cheddar, cranberries, pistachios, breadcrumbs, thyme, soy sauce, 2 tbsp of water and onions & mushroom mixture to a large bowl and mix. It may look a little dry but that’s ok.
Line a small (1.5-2lbs) loaf tin with baking parchment (we highly recommend Bacofoil Baking Parchment)and grease lightly with vegetable oil.
Add the roast mixture to the tin, pressing down into the corners and smoothing out the surface.
Place the roast in the oven for 40-45 min. The top should have browned and the roast should be firm when pressed. Leave the roast to cool in the tin for 5 minutes.
Gently turn the roast out onto a chopping board, let it cool slightly and cut into thick slices.
Serve the roast with lots of gravy and all your favourite vegetables.
If you’re looking for Christmas side recipes, maybe we can tempt you with some of our favourites below:
- Balsamic-Glazed Red Cabbage Steaks | A Perfect Christmas Dinner Side
- Hassleback Potatoes (coming soon)
- Mustard Brussells Sprouts
Mushroom Roast with Cranberries & Pistachios
Equipment
- 2 lbs loaf tin
- Food processor (optional)
Ingredients
- 100 g dried green lentils
- 150 g chestnut mushrooms finely chopped
- 30 g dried porcini mushrooms
- 60 g dried breadcrumbs
- 1 brown onion finely chopped
- 80 g cheddar cheese coarsely grated
- 20 ml soy sauce
- 40 g dried cranberries roughly chopped
- 50 g pistachio kernels roughly chopped
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 20 g butter
Instructions
- Cook green lentils following instructions on a packet. Once cooked, drain and leave to cool down.
- In the meantime, pour hot water over dried porcini mushrooms, just enough to submerge and leave for 15-20 minutes for the mushrooms to rehydrate. Then chop them finely.
- Heat a large non-stick frying pan over low heat. Melt the butter in the pan, then add the onions and sautee for 6-7 minutes until softened. Add the chopped chestnut and porcini mushrooms, a pinch of salt and cook for a further 7-8 minutes until the water has released and evaporated.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C Fan.
- Mash the cooled lentils into a rough paste (if you have a food processor, just blitz them for a few seconds). Add the cheddar, cranberries, pistachios, breadcrumbs, thyme, soy sauce, 2 tbsp of water, onion & mushroom mixture to a large bowl and mix. It may look a little dry but that's ok.
- Line a small loaf tin with baking parchment and grease lightly with vegetable oil.
- Add the roast mixture to the tin, pressing down into the corners and smoothing out the surface.
- Place the roast in the oven for 40-45 min. The top should have browned and the roast should be firm when pressed. Leave the roast to cool in the tin for 5 minutes.
- Gently turn the roast out onto a chopping board, let it cool slightly and scut into thick slices.
- Serve the roast with lots of gravy and all your favourite vegetables.
Nutrition
