Nut Roast with Roast Potatoes & Carrot Sauce

Today, I can "celebrate" eight months being a vegetarian! It's no biggie really, but I do time and time again think how surprisingly easy this journey has been for me.
Sometimes, I worry that if I go for a meal at someone's house, they will be worried about cooking for a vegetarian, but I'm not a fussy eater, and usually it sets their creativity inn the works, and so far I can honestly say that all the food I have made and have had made for me has been pretty darn awesome! If someone rattles up cheesy toast, or baked beans, scrambled eggs and other such easy meals - I'd be well chuffed too! So if you are an omnivore or meat eater, fear not, cause usually it is the thought that counts, and there are thankfully plenty of simple meat-free recipes out there! Mac'n'cheese? A hefty soup with some fresh bread? Bring it!


So on with the recipe. This will be my first vegetarian christmas, and so I felt I needed to prepare myself - Making sure that whilst my family have the traditional dinner, I would have something substantial too.

Nut roast is something I have been wanting to try for years even when I was an omnivore, but this year - I had no other choice but to get my paws in there and just get it made! I found a really nice recipe, and got started.

Needless to say me and my fellow vegetarian boyfriend wont go hungry this christmas - yay!

Nut Roast with Roast Potatoes & Carrot Sauce
(Serves 2-3)



500g baby potatoes
150g ground walnuts
200g bread crumbs (wholemeal preferably)
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp paprika (preferably smoked)
Salt to taste
120g cream cheese (I used Philadelphia light)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stock cube, crumbled
3 eggs
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
A handful fresh parsley, chopped

For the carrot sauce:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1 vegetable stock cube + 2 cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
250g carrots, small dice

- Pre-heat the oven to 200C.

- Boil the potatoes whole for about 10 minutes to soften them a little.

- In a mixing bowl, start by having the walnuts, breadcrumbs, seasoning and stock in, mix well, and then make a well in the middle and pour in the remaining ingredients. Grease a loaf tin and roll the mixture into a oval shape (it does not need to take up the whole tin, mine didn't and I wanted it to keep the shape).

- Drain the potatoes and have them in an ovenproof dish, cover and coat with oil and simply give them a sprinkle of salt.

- Now, place the nut roast in the oven and pop the potatoes in to roast at the same time, leave them for about 30 minutes until the roast is cooked through and the potatoes are sizzling.

- In the meantime, make the sauce: Boil up the stock and have the garlic, onion a bit of salt and pepper in along with the carrots. Boil until the carrot is tender, about 15-20 minutes and use a stick blender to whizz to a smooth almost-purée-like consistency.

- Assemble and serve up! If you want, you can also serve it with some vegetarian stuffing on the side, but this meal itself was really filling, and SO tasty!

Yesterday, I had some friends over for dinner. I had never cooked for six people before, but it went down a treat! I made Mediterranean Hummous and plain hummous as a starter that I served with pita bread, and then as a main I served my Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie, with roast potatoes. A friend had made a really lovely vanilla ice cream and oreo truffles that he brought along!
I can imagine if you doubled the nut roast recipe, that would have worked well too though!

I thought I would post this up, so that you would have time to try it out at least once before christmas arrived! Have you made nut roast before? I'd be happy to take any other recipes for nut roast aboard!

This is my last day off from being ill and on medicine and also today I had actually already taken as a holiday, but tomorrow I am back to work as usual. It was nice with a bit of time off, but it will be good to see my colleagues again! I hope you are having a good week so far! *smiles*


Original source:
Friske Vegetarianske Oppskrifter, P. 48

- Jules